Never Take A Dare Because Life's Too Short
by DigiFreak103
Summary: FINAL CHAPTER! Did Rika do the dare? Does this fic have a hopeful ending? [rated R for graphic violence and adult language, reader’s discretion advised]
1. The Dare

Never Take A Dare Because Life's Too Short

The Dare

DF103: I'm gonna go for a horror fic so…criticize me all you want if its not scary enough or whatever…k? laughs nervously rating for blood, guts, and gore and death of character(s) in later chapters…then again…I might have rated this a little too high…but you know…just to stay on the safe side…Ryo will be telling the story, just so you know…the story is told in flashback format, and basically how Ryo remembers it…kinda like To Kill A Mockingbird but in 3rd person form …hope that this isn't too confusing for all of you…and this isn't really a strict Ryuki…maybe friendship here and there…hope you enjoy…

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_When I look back on the days when we were tamers, everyday seemed like an adventure. But after we came back, everything rolled downhill. Almost everything seemed normal. We all went back to school, spent time with our families; we pretty much lived our normal lives, except they were better. _

_However, there was still one thing, we thought was not right. The old, secluded house that resided on edge of the city near the park. It was always a mystery to us of who lived there, and why no one ever came out. We know that someone moved in there, a while back, but no one ever came out after they did. There were large piles of newspapers, in front of the old, wooden door and the boards of the house creaked when the wind blew. The house made everyone's spine tingle._

_We asked Takato's dad to have someone check out the building, for us. A few police officers went in and claimed that no one lived there, and no one did for quite a while. That's when we really got scared because every once in a while, at night, the tamers and I would see the lights come on and see human-shaped shadows lurking around the house. Someone once said that a kid threw a rock at the window and shattered the glass. The next day after that, the kid was missing. They never found him again. Ever since then, there were many rumors about that house._

_Then, one fall evening, we had a game of truth or dare that had something to do with that house, a game of truth or dare that turned the lives of many, upside-down, especially mine. That's when I learned that life is too short for folly and games._

- - - - -

"Come on, Ryo, truth or dare?" Kenta asked, looking across the circle, the tamers were sitting in.

"Umm…dare," Ryo said, with a smile on his face.

"Gosh, why don't they just go ahead and call it 'dare' if no one is going to pick truth," Kazu said.

"Shut up, Kazu, and let Kenta think of a good dare for, Mr. Perfect," Rika said, looking at Ryo, who was grinning.

"I think you should…stay in that house for one night," Kenta said, pointing to the old house.

Ryo looked over at the house and shivered at the sight.

"Looks like the Legendary Tamer is chickening out," Rika said.

_I'll show her_, Ryo thought. "Who says I'm chickening out? One night, right? I can do that," Ryo said, holding his head high.

"Okay, then we'll meet in front of the house an hour from now, okay guys?" Takato said.

Everyone left the hideout and headed home for dinner.

- - -

After dinner, everyone gathered in front of the long-standing house, Ryo with his bag of necessities. Henry walked up to Ryo. "Okay, here's the moment we've all been waiting for."

Ryo took a good look at the house, and then to the tamers. "Well, if I don't come out tomorrow morning at 9:00, assume I'm dead," Ryo assured, with an unsure smile on his face.

"Aww…you'll survive, you lived in the Digital World for like half of your life," Kazu hyperbolized.

"Here," Henry handed Ryo a hand-held video camera, "might as well make this a worthy mission. Video-tape what's in there, okay?"

Ryo nodded and headed for the house.

"He's doomed," whispered Kazu, to the others.

Ryo took a meticulous step towards the door, shuddering to think what was behind it. He reached for the doorknob and found that it was locked, so he looked around for another way in. He turned and looked at the glassless window. He walked up to it and dropped all the things he brought in the house. Then, he jumped in.

A loud 'thump' was all the others heard, after Ryo was in the house.

"Okay guys, let's go home for the night. This place is giving me the creeps. We meet back here at nine o'clock in the morning," Takato said, looking back at the house.

- - -

Ryo took small quiet steps around the house, clutching the video camera. He turned the camera around and faced it towards him.

"Hey guys, this isn't that scary. It's just cobwebs and dust," Ryo said, at the camera.

He walked into what looked like a library room, with large paintings of people he didn't recognize. From there, he went into the main room, where all the furniture was covered with white sheets.

Ryo started to walk back to where his stuff was, before he heard someone breathing softly. He turned around and saw something brush past him. He walked towards the same direction, and heard another sound from behind him. He whipped around and saw nothing. Not thinking about it any longer, he walked back towards the window. He bent down and picked some of the items up, until he felt a very cold hand on his shoulder. He turned his head slowly and saw a dark figure.

Ryo screamed for help, but no one could hear him. He started to run with the camera still in his hands and went into the kitchen. The figure followed him in and stood there from the doorway. Ryo was about to run, when he heard a slight creak. He looked up and saw the large chandelier plummeting towards him. He had tried running, but it was too late. He was stuck under the large mass, the feeling in his leg going numb.

"I'M GOING TO GET YOU GUYS IF I GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE!" Ryo yelled into the video camera, as the dark figure slowly came upon him. It's slimy hand crept toward Ryo's face as green goo dripped from the fingertips. The digits slowly made its way into Ryo's mouth.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" was the last thing Ryo yelled that night.

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DF103: well that really sucked…yup yup…tell me what you think…I do accept flames…and such so…tell me what you think…till next chapter…PEACE 


	2. The Next Morning

Never Take A Dare Because Life's Too Short

The Next Morning

Morbid/dead DF103: I'm takin' over this fic now…'cause horror is my specialty…note that nothing will really be scary till about another couple o' chapters…so yeah. And a very important note to help you understand the way I'm doing the POVs; Ryo, as the narrator, will not show up anymore until the last chapter, so the rest of the story will be told in a flashback thingy…okay…good. There are severe out-of-character-ness in the characters, or at least some…just to warn you…okay…none of the four counterparts of DF103 owns Digimon. Don't worry DF103 doesn't own it either. Okay…onwards to the chapter…

* * *

At nine o'clock, Takato, Kazu, Henry, and Rika stood in front of the house. They waited for at least 10 minutes, but there was no sign of Ryo.

"Hey Ryo! You can come out now!" Takato yelled out.

"Dude, Ryo man! Come on out." Kazu added.

"Just as I thought, he probably ran back home after we left," Rika commented.

"Rika! Give the guy some credit," Kazu whined.

"Well, then, lets just go see." Rika walked up the set of steps.

"There she goes. Are we gonna follow?" Henry asked, as Rika ventured on into the house.

"Nah, just leave her. See how brave she is," Kazu said.

Rika turned the doorknob and then remembered that last night, Ryo had to go in through the window because the door wouldn't budge. She let go of the handle and walked carefully over some of the loose boards on the floor, to the window. She stuck her head through the window and saw Ryo's stuff. Judging by the dust-covered floor, it seemed that Ryo didn't move any of his things, and only his footprints disturbed the area of dust.

"Ryo? You in here?" Rika walked around, following the footpath. She, then, came to a point where the tracks seemed to go everywhere, and if that wasn't odd enough, she found another set of footprints, about four sizes bigger than Ryo's.

"Was someone else here with Ryo?"

Rika followed the two sets of prints into the kitchen and found Ryo; the lower part of his body caught under a large chandelier. His hair was tousled, with small amounts of a gooey substance smeared over parts of it. The same substance was found on his pale, dirtied face. Rika struggled to get the mass off of Ryo, but it was too heavy. She ran back to the window and called out to the others.

"You guys! Ryo is hurt! You got to come and help!" she yelled out.

"You're pullin' our legs, right?" Takato asked.

"Are you calling me a liar? Why would I lie about something like this?" Rika yelled out. "Get your butts over here and help!"

"Come on. I don't think she's joking," Henry said, running towards the longstanding building.

"Ryo! I'm comin' to save ya!" Kazu shouted, running behind Henry.

A person at a time, they entered the house through the window. All the movement in the house made the dust on the floor churn. Rika stood in the middle of the room, anxious to lead the others to where Ryo is. After everyone was in the house, the floor started to creak. Someone was up and about, while the tamers stood there, motionless. They looked at Rika, as the faint footsteps were heard from behind her. A silhouette soon appeared behind Rika, who seemed to be paralyzed. Kazu's face faltered.

"Aw! Come on, Rika. Very funny…" Kazu yelled out, just as everyone else loosened up.

"What are you talking abou—what the hell?" Rika yelled out, as she felt something wrap around her waist, and something resting on her shoulder.

"How's my pumpkin?" a deep, soft voice asked.

Rika's eyes widened. After a few moments, she recognized the voice. She whipped around and was going to hit Ryo, but he was gone. "Where'd he go?"

The others laughed.

"Am I too quick for you?" Ryo asked, standing next to the window.

"But, how—how did you get there so fast?" Rika stuttered out, in awe of what he had just done. "And, how did you turn loose from that huge chandelier?"

"Forget the questions, Rika. Let's get outta here. This place gives me the creeps." Takato shuddered, standing next to Ryo, in front of the window, looking around the inside of the building.

"You and me both, chumley," Kazu replied.

Rika scoffed. "Fine." Rika was about to make her way out before Henry walked deeper into the house.

"Where did you say you found him?" Henry asked, turning around.

"In there…" Rika pointed to the kitchen. They both walked into the dark kitchen. They found the chandelier, set on the table. The video camera, which Henry let Ryo borrow, was on the floor next to a small crevice. "He was stuck under the chandelier that's supposed to be over that crevice."

Henry walked over to the chandelier and tried to lift it up. "Whoa, I know Ryo is a year older than us, but I don't think even a grown man can even lift this up without another person."

"No kidding." Rika picked the camera up and rewound the tape. She looked at the screen, and pressed play.

The first few scenes were just a look of the house on the inside. After a few moments, Ryo showed signs of struggle and, judging by the way the camera moved Ryo was running from something. There was a creak before a loud crash. Ryo's face soon appeared, looking frightened and in pain. He yelled, "I'M GOING TO GET YOU GUYS IF I GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE!" There were minute signs of anyone else being there, from the tape, but more than one set of footsteps were heard. A scream was heard before the tape was dropped and the screen went snowy.

"What just happened there?" Henry asked; freaked out about what he just saw.

"I don't know."

"Come on, this is freaking me out," Henry said, walking out the kitchen and heading straight for the window.

"Same here." Rika followed.

On the windowsill was Ryo with a look of malice, watching Rika and Henry walk in. Ryo's eyes narrowed, looking at Henry smile wryly and weakly.

"What did you two do in there?" Ryo asked, in a calm, sinister voice.

"We were just retrieving the camcorder," Henry answered.

"Oh really? It took the both of you to get it, hmm?" Ryo asked, his voice getting deeper and deeper.

Rika shot a glare at him. "Why? What if we just happened to be doing this?" Rika kissed Henry right smack-dab on the lips. "Whatcha gonna do about it, huh?" Rika then realized what she'd just done. Henry was stunned and stood there, staring at Rika.

"Um, I'll see you two later," said Henry, slowly. He made his way to the window before Ryo stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Ryo asked.

"Um, look. We didn't do what Rika just did to me, so don't worry about it," Henry explained, trying to make his way out of this. Ryo still didn't move.

"Ryo, stop being a jerk and let him go. I was just mad that you were butting into people's business and I was moving on impulse." Rika grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away from the window.

Henry jumped out and mouthed, "Thanks." He ran up the sidewalk, meeting up with Takato and Kazu.

"Damn it, Ryo. What makes you think I'm yours? I don't remember saying you were my boyfriend, Ryo," Rika paused and looked at his blue eyes. There was a spec of red right in the middle of his pupil. 'Was that there?' Rika shook the thought off, thinking she was hallucinating. "The point is I can hang out with anyone I want without you stopping me. Okay?"

Ryo just stood there and looked at her. He hugged her, tightly before he jumped out the window, and ran away, at an incredible speed. Rika was confused. _Something's not right about him…_

* * *

Morbid/dead DF103: Okay, I know…it came out a little shorter than my other fics…but shorter chapters are easier to work with…I'll keep it at this pace for this fic. Next chapter will not take 6 months to get out, like this one did…tell me what you think. And till next update, peace… 


	3. Camcorders Never Lie

Never Take A Dare Because Life's Too Short

Camcorders Never Lie

DF103: AH! So bored! I want to write! No ONE is online! Stupid hurricane make-up day…ARG! I'd rather go to school, than stay home…BLAH!

Morbid/Dead DF103: ô.o pushes DF103 out the door Okay, so another chapter of this lovely fic. I'm gonna add indenting paragraphs, starting with this chapter. It's a habit with all of us these days. I'll just go ahead and start it okay? None of us own Digimon.

* * *

"Um, did you just see that?" Takato asked, incredulously.

"See what? The thing that happened in there," Kazu asked, pointing to the house, "or the thing that just happened with Ryo."

"Both…" Takato answered, as he watched Rika climb out of the window.

"I believe so. If you saw, Ryo hug Rika and just dash over that way, then yeah. I saw it," Kazu answered.

"Wonder what Rika did this time," Henry said, thinking aloud.

Rika walked over to the group, and saw that she was being stared down. "What?"

"What happened in there?" Kazu asked.

"To tell you the truth, I really don't know. Ryo's acting really weird, you guys."

"Hah. No kidding," Takato agreed.

Rika looked at Henry. He looked worried, since he, too, witnessed Ryo's weird behavior. They both knew that that wasn't Ryo's normal, charming manners. In fact, it was far from that, as if he wasn't himself.

"I wonder where he went off to. I mean, a guy doesn't just take off like that," Kazu said.

"I didn't like the feeling of that house. I mean, it's just a house, but atmosphere of the place just, didn't feel right," Rika mentioned.

"Hello, Rika. It's haunted. That's why we had Ryo spend the night there," Kazu remarked.

"Kazu, we all well know that there are no such things as ghosts," Rika noted.

"That's what we said about Digimon and look, we know that they actually exist."

Rika winced. "Don't mention that word."

"What? Digimon?" Kazu asked.

Rika growled and glared at Kazu, clenching her fists. Kazu arched back away from Rika. She just huffed and walked off.

"What did I say?" Kazu asked, watching Rika storm off.

"Well, you said it twice, you should know," Henry said.

"You know, there's a certain level where you should just keep your mouth shut," Takato noted. "In front of Rika, don't say 'Digimon' because obviously, she misses Renamon, just as all of us miss all of our Digimon."

"Dude, that was over three months ago. Don't you think she should be over that?" Kazu retorted. "I'm mean come on, of all people, Rika should've been the one to recover from all this Digimon stuff."

Henry and Takato sighed. "Kazu, Rika is human, and like any human, she has feelings. And on top of that, girls can be sensitive," Henry explained.

"You can be so insensitive sometimes," Takato added, rubbing the back of his neck.

Henry and him started walking back the same way Rika went. Kazu looked at the two. "I can too be sensitive!"

Rika's House…Rika's Room

'What could possibly happen to him in that house in one night? He acted so strangely. It's like it wasn't even him.'

Rika was lying on her back on her bed, looking at the ceiling. She had to admit; she was quite worried about the ocean-blue eyed brunet.

'I've never seen him look at Henry like that before,' Rika thought, turning to her side, her head propped up by her hand. She stared blankly at the floor, thinking. 'Maybe he's just playing around—'

Henry's House

Henry sat down in front of his computer, and grabbed a USB cord. He plugged it into his camcorder and set it next to the computer monitor. He turned both of the electronics on and got back up to grab a drink. While going through the refrigerator, his dad walked in.

"Hey Henry, what were you doing out so early this morning?" his dad, Janyu, asked.

"Just had to meet up with a few people," Henry replied, pouring himself a glass of orange juice. "You know, Takato, Rika, Kazu, Kenta…all of them."

"Uh-huh. I don't remember you going out that early in a long time since the Digimon left."

"Well, doesn't mean we still—" a loud scream startled Henry as the noise continued from Henry's room. He ran back to his room with Janyu following.

Henry stopped without warning in front of his room, causing his dad to run into him, as he saw his computer monitor of what looked like Ryo's version of the Blair Witch Project. Things that weren't played back on the camcorder became clear as it played back on the computer. Ryo's eyes and forehead, covered with sweat was the only thing that was on the monitor at that moment.

"I'M GOING TO GET YOU GUYS IF I GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE!" the speakers vibrated and were overdriven.

As the camera showed signs of struggle, it revealed small parts of the being that happened to chase Ryo. The camera was dropped and just as it did in the house, the screen went snowy.

"This is what you guys were doing last night and this morning? Hang around that old house?" Henry's dad asked, hint of aggravation ringing in his voice. "Henry, I've told you time after time that that house is off limits."

"Sorry, sir," Henry replied, with his head hanging low, hoping his show of respect would cool his dad down a little.

"Everyone's okay, right?"

"I think so, sir."

Janyu shook his head and walked back to the main room. Henry walked out of his room and got the phone, dialing Rika's number.

Rika's House

"Rika, phone," Seiko, Rika's grandmother, said, waiting at the door of Rika's room. "It's Henry."

Rika stumbled off her bed and opened the door. "Thanks, grandma," Rika replied, as Seiko handed her the phone. Rika put the black phone against her ear. "Hey, Henry." Seiko left, leaving her granddaughter alone to converse.

"Remember the video tape we got from the house earlier? There was more to what we saw," Henry put in plain words. "Can you come over? I'll call Takato over, too."

"Just as long as Kazu isn't there, I can come," Rika replied, roughly.

"Don't worry. It'll just be the three of us. Oh, and try to stay clear of my dad. He got kind of mad after he saw the clip."

"No problem. I'll see you in a few." Rika hung up, and ran out her room. "Grandma, I'm going back out." She dashed out the door, and grabbed her bike from the side of the house.

On the way out of the house gates, Ryo appeared before her. Rika gasped to see Ryo again. A part of her seemed to fear him, while the other part wanted to question him.

"Where are you going?" Ryo asked, tilting his head and raising an eyebrow.

"I don't have to tell you," Rika retorted as she rode her bike past Ryo. She pedaled fast, so Ryo couldn't catch up with her. It didn't do her much good.

"Where are you going?" Ryo asked again, running at the same speed as Rika's bike.

Rika looked at him in awe. She slowed down and replied, "Henry's house, now will you leave me alone?"

"Henry's? How come I wasn't invited?" Ryo grimaced when he said Henry's name. He grabbed Rika's bike and stopped it. "I'm part of the tamers, aren't I?"

"It's not a tamers thing."

"Oh?" Ryo half smirked, then frowned, "personal level thing?"

Rika's cheeks turned red, in embarrassment and in anger. "Ryo, just leave me alone for today, okay?" She started pedaling again, before Ryo yanked on her arm.

"You didn't answer my question…"

"Ryo. Just lay off!" Rika kicked Ryo's shin, in hopes of keeping him immobile.

She went back to making her way to Henry's house, with glances back at Ryo. 'It's like he didn't even feel that." Ryo just stood there with an emotionless look plastered onto his face.

Henry's House

Rika put her bike on the bike rack outside the apartment building, and went up to Henry's. She knocked on the door. The door creaked open, with light reflecting off of Janyu's glasses.

"Hello Rika. The boys are in Henry's room," he said, widening the door.

"Thank you, Mr. Wong," Rika replied bowing as she entered.

Rika walked up to Henry's room and greeted Takato and Henry. Henry and Takato turned around in their chairs.

"What took you so long?" Takato asked.

"I was held up by Ryo." Rika crossed her arm, still mad at Ryo for his nosiness.

"O…kay. Henry was just showing me the clip where it shows this creature thing." Takato pointed to the screen that was put on pause.

Rika sat down in the empty chair and observed the shot. She examined it until she could make out a pair of gleaming eyes. "Whoa."

"All we can say about this 'thing' is that it isn't human," Henry mentioned.

"It's too bad we don't have anymore shots of it," Takato sighed, leaning back in the chair.

"Can you play back the clip from the beginning?" Rika asked.

"Sure, but I didn't see anything of significance near the beginning."

"It's okay."

Henry grabbed his computer mouse and clicked the rewind button. The sequence occurred in reverse order, until the screen was black. He hit play and sat back. Rika and Takato gazed intently at the screen, hoping to find another clue to what the creature was.

"Hey guys, this isn't that scary. It's just cobwebs and dust," the clip started, with a nice face shot of Ryo, in night view.

The camera view took a good look at all the rooms. All the dusty books in the library with massive indistinct paintings on the walls, the main room with the furniture covered with white sheets and the fireplace covered with cobwebs, the dining room with the long, large table with a couple of candleholders atop them, and finally a glimpse of the kitchen.

A few rustles and footsteps were heard as the scene continued. Ryo seemed to panic when he heard breathing, somewhere in the room. It was obvious to the three when he started running. Henry turned the volume down as a face view of Ryo's appeared and the infamous words came out once again. "I'M GOING TO GET YOU GUYS IF I GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE!"

In the other room, Janyu was reading the newspaper, when he heard Ryo's words again. He expected the kids to laugh, but none came. Janyu thought the whole video taping idea was for a scary movie or something. He pondered on Henry's words from earlier. 'He did say, "I think so." Does that mean Ryo got hurt?' He got up and walked back into Henry's room.

"Henry, I was wondering. Is Ryo okay? I mean, from the excerpt I saw, he didn't seem okay," Janyu asked, before he saw Ryo outside Henry's window on the balcony. Ryo doffed his head and smiled to Mr. Wong. 'I don't remember him coming over. Maybe he just slipped by…'

"Yeah, he's fine," Rika answered.

"Okay. Well, sorry for bothering all of you. Oh, and don't forget to let Ryo inside after he's done with whatever he's doing out there." Janyuu walked outside.

"What?" The three of them looked at each other, and then looked out the window. They didn't see a thing.

"What did your dad mean by 'don't forget to let Ryo inside?'" Takato asked, with a quizzical look spread across his face.

"I have no idea," Henry replied, looking back out the window, only seeing the clear sky, treetops, and some buildings.

Outside, hanging on the edge of the balcony, aiming to land in a tree was Ryo. "I have a reason to get you now. I'm going to get you guys, because I got out of there alive," he reiterated to himself, in a bitter, dark voice.

* * *

DF103: 'Driving on the lawn, sleeping on the roof. Drinking all the alcohol, all the kids from school will be naked in the pool, while our parents are on Fire Island.' 'Fire Island' is a great song! Third best to Stacy's Mom! FWEEE! Fountains of Wayne ROCK!

Morbid/Dead DF103: I bother her so she bothers me. Sound good? Okay, there's another chapter for all o yeah. What will happen next? Please review.


	4. Instigation

Never Take A Dare Because Life's Too Short

Instigation

DF103: I'm slowly breaking down from what I thought was in the past; but now, it's catching up to me and it's a terrible feeling—very terrible…oh, woe, 'tis I…

Morbid/Dead DF103: For once…I'm the happy one. DF103 drew a mural of all of us voices in her head and it's going to be colored and put on our website this summer. Yay! ahem Anyway, been a while. Well, go on…read…oh…I don't own Digimon.

* * *

"I'm going to—uh…" Henry said pointing to the sliding glass door, before rushing out to see what his dad was talking about. 

"Wait, we're coming with you," Rika yelled out, dragging Takato out of the room with her.

Henry walked out into the balcony and saw fingers off the edge. He pointed at the fingers as Rika and Takato tiptoed behind him to see what he was looking at, standing a few feet away from the railing. They looked over the edge and gasped at the sight of Ryo.

"What the hell is your deal, Ryo? This is an invasion of privacy," Henry yelled out, leaning over the edge. Ryo looked up, his usual blue eyes glowing a dark, crimson red.

"Privacy? Nothing can be kept in privacy anymore, fool." Ryo retorted, smirking.

Ryo gathered the strength to climb back up until he was half way up the railing, his knees on the actual balcony. He looked Henry in the eye, until he spotted Rika from the corner of his eye. Smirking again, he climbed back down.

With a quick movement of his hand, he reached back up, grabbed Takato's leg and let go of the edge, falling. Takato plopped down to the floor and was quickly dragged to the edge of the balcony, to the point where a metal bar on the railing slammed right in between his legs. He let out a horrid scream. Hanging onto Takato's ankle, Ryo swung from side to side twenty feet up from the ground.

"Ryo, let go of me," Takato murmured, tears streaming down his cheeks. He held onto the railings to lessen the weight of Ryo on him.

Rika and Henry attempted to get Takato out of this situation, pulling him away from edge. "Hang in there, Takato."

"Ryo! Let him go!" Rika cried out, before spitting over the edge, in hopes of hitting him. Ryo smirked watching the spit bypass him and hit the several feet below.

"I…can't…feel…my—" Takato whispered.

"You see this, Wong? This is just the beginning. You'll be the first to go. When everyone is gone, I'll collect my prize," warned Ryo, in a voice not his own. He twisted the brunet's ankle before letting go, landing with a loud 'THUD' on the concrete below.

Putting off what Ryo said into the back of his head, Henry and Rika pulled Takato out and carried him into Henry's room. Rika closed the door behind her and sat on the bed. "It's like he's possessed or something."

"I think he _is_ possessed," Henry said. "The Ryo we know would never do that."

Rika let out a solemn sigh. "How is Takato?"

Henry shook his head. "I don't know. But, he's hurt."

Mr. Wong came into Henry's room again, roused from the commotion coming from outside. "What's going on in here now?"

"Takato's hurt."

Janyu peered down at the sweat-covered boy on the floor. Takato's eyes were closed, though they still displayed a sense of pain. "Care to tell me what happened?"

"Dad, he's hurt. We've got to do something about it!" Janyu didn't move, waiting for another answer from Henry.

"Can we just explain at the hospital?" Rika asked. Janyu bent down and picked Takato up off the floor.

"I guess I don't have a choice, now do I." Janyu said, before carrying Takato out of the room. Henry looked over the balcony only to find Ryo gone.

"Henry, come on," Rika said, sticking her head out of the door.

Hours Later in the Hospital…

"His lower pelvic regions are badly bruised and his right ankle is sprained. With injuries like these, I must ask, what happened?" the doctor asked making eye contact with Janyu.

"Actually, that's something I'd like to know myself," Janyu replied turning to Henry. "You see my son and his friends were there when it happened. By the way, whatever happened to Ryo?"

Henry nervously looked up. "Ryo is what got Takato hurt…"

"But, how's that possible?"

"Ryo was suspending off of Takato's ankle on the balcony." Other notions were kept unsaid.

"What!" Janyu yelled out, incredulously. Henry nodded. "What's gotten into him? I thought he was a very polite kid, the times I've talked to him."

The doctor shook his head, and muttered, "The things kids do to each other these days," before leaving the room, flipping through the papers on his clipboard. Rika entered into the room as the doctor left.

"I called Takato's parents. They're on their way here," she informed, sitting down in a chair. Janyu stood, staring blankly into space, biting down on his thumb, while Henry had a troubled visage, thinking over the momentary happening that occurred in his apartment. The auburn-haired teen's eyes widened in realization remembering what Ryo uttered before he fell to the ground and disappeared. "Henry…he said that you'll be the first to go…"

Henry's dad gazed at Henry, as if asking if it were true. "He threatened you?" Henry's affirmative response frightened Janyu. "I forbid you to see that boy. I don't know what's gotten into him, but he's not allowed to even talk to you."

"Okay…" Henry replied in annoyance. 'As if I wanted to talk to him anyway.'

"Takato! Takato!" Doors were being forcefully opened and closed until the waiting room door the trio resided in, burst open. "Where is Takato!" Takato's mom demanded worriedly and hastily.

"He's in one of the rooms…" Rika said dryly.

"I know he's in one of the rooms. I need to know where. Where's my Takato!" Takato's mother cried out, tears streaming down her cheeks. "What did you do to him?"

"Mrs. Matsuki, I assure you that your son is fine. The doctor just said that he has some bruises." Janyu led Mr. and Mrs. Matsuki out of the room.

"This is horrible, Henry," Rika commented, burying her face within her hands. "Why is this happening? Ryo was so caring…so nice." Her face glowed a light red. "Ugh, that idiot. He better be joking."

Henry studied Rika's expression. "I don't think Ryo's joking around, Rika. As much as I want to believe that he might be, I highly doubt it," Henry explained. "I don't think he would've went as far as hurting Takato."

"Ugh! He's going to get it the next time I see him!" Rika lashed out at the imaginary Ryo she saw in front of her.

"Earth to Rika. If you don't remember, Ryo is possessed. He has to be. He had red eyes and…"

A sigh of relief escaped Rika's throat. "Good to know."

"How is that good!"

"At least Ryo didn't do it himself."

"Looks like you're standing up for him…for once."

"Of course. He's a friend. Just a friend."

"Right…"

The adult unit walked back into the room. "You and your friends aren't allowed to see Takato anymore. I trusted his judgment on choosing his friends and I see now that his judgment got him hurt," Mr. Matsuki proclaimed. "I'm sorry it had to come to this." He led his distressed wife out of the room.

"Can we at least go see him now?" Henry asked.

The Matsukis didn't care to look back. Janyu apologetically stared at Henry.

Rika sighed and said, "Be on the look out for Ryo…" She bowed to Mr. Wong, then to Henry and left. She glanced at her watch and sighed inwardly. "Two o'clock already? This isn't my day."

"Can I make it better, wildcat?" Rika stopped and turned around.

"Ryo?" Rika shook her head. "Go away, you imposter." She continued her way home.

"Imposter?" Ryo chuckled. "Come on, Rika." He grabbed her shoulder with a look of concern. "What did I do this time?"

"You've got to be joking. The Ryo I've gotten to know in the past few months wouldn't hurt any of my other friends." Rika gazed into Ryo's eyes. They were the color of the tamed sea. 'Henry must've been seeing things when he brought up the red eyes.'

"Rika, I don't know what I did, but whatever it was, I'm sorry."

They stood there for a moment causing passers to stare. Ryo slowly leaned in and…SWACK! "What the hell are you trying to pull, Ryo!"

"Ow…" Ryo rubbed his cheek, innocence painted all over his face.

"Oh my gosh. It really is you." Rika gasped and held her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry."

"I'm fine. It's okay. Just tell me what the deal is with this imposter you mentioned earlier."

"Well…it's kind of hard to explain. You see you were supposedly hanging off of Henry's balcony. And then, you grabbed Takato's leg and now he's in the hospital because of the injury you've caused him," Rika stated. "If you don't remember, it couldn't have been you…" Rika perked her head up, "…Unless you're lying to me." She backed away.

"Why would I be lying?"

"Where were you this whole day, hot shot, huh?" Ryo didn't say a word. "'I don't know what I did' my ass. Just stay away from me." Rika ran home.

"Rika!" Ryo called out, before his vision became hazy.

* * *

DF103: sits in corner, poking wall You know…I don't want to live anymore. I have nothing to look forward to. I'm going to be a junior in high school…and I still don't know what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life. You know, you people are better listeners than those guys; you know, the guys in the white coats who yell at you when you try to move around in your straight jacket; yeah…them. 

Morbid/dead DF103: o.o;; Um, okay. That's another chapter for ya. I think it's kind of disappointing, but in any case, it's a chapter. Next chapter is sure to be better. Maybe I can post another chapter this week. :-) Now DF better get her act together so she can update her other stuff before the week is over. (go to DF103's and journal for info on updates and fics link is on profile page). Till next chapter, cya!


	5. Beginning of the End

Never Take a Dare Because Life's Too Short

Chapter 5: Beginning of the End

Morbid/Dead DF103: All of us voices here and I might as well mention DF103, are suffering from hives. It's been four days now. And because we're not able to do ANYTHING…we're writing. Yeah! And it's a beautiful dark, stormy day to write this chapter; what a perfect atmosphere to work in. BWAHAHAHAH! Actually, there are golf-sized hailstones falling outta the sky, but no matter, still a beautiful day. So, we don't own digimon. ¡Caveat lector! This chapter gets a little graphic and violent, just a tiny bit…tiny, tiny bit. No, really…just a little bit.

* * *

That night, Rika lay sprawled out on her bedroom floor, reflecting upon how her day was. She frowned, recollecting the bitter words and attitude she had chucked at Ryo. In desperation to apologize, Rika picked up the phone, feeling bad about what she had said to him. When she really thought about it, Rika didn't even give Ryo a chance to say anything. She dialed the number, only to hear the busy signal.

Rika sighed. She continued staring back at the ceiling again. A mad rush of thoughts about Ryo circulated her mind. 'Is he good or is bad?' She still couldn't believe she saw Ryo hurting Takato. 'He didn't do anything to Ryo.' Remembering what Henry said, she thought, 'What possessed Ryo?' Nothing made sense to her even though she tried to piece together everything that had happened. Sighing, she pressed the redial number. Again, the busy signal sounded. "Who's on the phone!"

- - -

At Ryo's house, Ryo's dad paced around the living room with one hand in his pocket and the other clutched onto the phone. He was put on hold for the last fifteen minutes. In frustration, he ran his hand through his hair. A small voice was heard on the other line. "Yes, finally! I would like to report a missing person." He plopped down onto the couch. "Yes, my son. Ryo Akiyama. He's been gone since last night—"

- - -

Earlier in the evening, Rika, Henry, and Jeri called each other into a three-way call and discussed the possible 'things' that could've possessed Ryo. But, as Rika stared at the ceiling and then at her inactive digivice, a thought that didn't strike her earlier came to mind. "What if it was a digimon?" She shook her head and tossed the device to the side. "It can't be. Maybe Henry will know." She dialed Henry's phone number.

- - -

"Hello? Oh hey, Rika," Henry said.

Sitting in a tree outside Henry's window, a shadowy person listened to Henry's every word, waiting patiently for the right moment. Henry got up and walked around his room looking confused.

"A digimon?" Henry contemplated the thought before he walked past his sock drawer, hearing a light beeping sound. "Strange how you mention that…" He dug through his socks and picked up his lightly pulsating green digivice. "Is your digivice reacting to anything?" Rika's answer was a negative.

"I've been found…" the sinister voice outside murmured. He lunged at the window and clung onto the edge. Henry whipped around and saw a tiny shadow at his window.

Henry dropped the phone and peered at his digivice, which pointed its arrows towards the shadow. "Terriermon?" Henry slinked towards the being, before he picked up the phone and told Rika that he'll call back later. With the phone, Henry sidled out of his room and crept near the door.

"Where are you going?" Janyu appeared from the kitchen counter. "Especially in your pajamas?"

"I'm going…out. I won't be long," Henry innocently replied.

"All right. Don't take too long," Henry's father affirmed.

"Thanks dad. I'll be back soon," Henry sighed incredulously. 'He's a little off right now.'

The blue-haired teenager ran out of the apartment building and lurked around the side approaching the tree outside his window. He saw a person dangling off the edge of the window. 'Who the hell is that?' Henry climbed the tree, dropping the phone in the process, and reached the top only to find no one at his window.

Confused, Henry retreated, shrugging it off when suddenly, a hand clasped over his mouth. A large piece of tape was stuck on Henry's mouth, muffling his cries for help. Something was wrapped around his throat before he was kicked out of the tree. Henry gasped for air as he suspended from a tree branch with what seemed like clothesline around his neck. The shadow jumped off the tree quietly laughing to itself.

As Henry tried to loosen the cord around his throat with his hands, he kicked the person in the head, triggering an attack from the being. It tugged on Henry's leg, causing the line to tighten. Henry slowly lost his awareness, his eyelids closing and one hand falling limp.

A self-satisfied grin spread across the shadowy person's face.

Crack…thud. Moments later, the tree branch gave way sending Henry to the ground, with his back facing the person responsible. Weakly and indistinctly, Henry pulled on the noose and ripped the tape off his mouth. "Ah," he groaned in pain as he wheezed. "Come over here, you bastard." Henry gathered enough strength to get himself up and into a fighting stance.

"You're making a mistake," the voice said.

Still panting, Henry tilted his head in realization, lowering his fists. "Ryo?"

The shadowy figure stepped into the light. Ryo's fiery eyes glowed in the dim light. "That's Mr. Akiyama to you…" he grumbled, throwing a punch at Henry.

Henry ducked his head. "Why are you doing this? First, it was Takato. Now it's me? What's gotten into you?"

"Oh, let's just say…" Ryo paused as something emerged from his mouth. A bald, hideous, red-eyed, elf-like head that owned the sinister voice finished the sentence. "…A digimon."

Henry jumped back. "Holy shit!"

"Envymon, at Ryo's service." The digimon smirked before quickly retreating into Ryo's body. "Whatever Ryo secretly wants, Ryo gets and if anything gets in the way…kill."

"Kill?" Still exhausted, Henry stayed calm, stalling until he regained energy.

"He doesn't want anyone to get in the way between him and Rika."

"What? Rika?"

Ryo's voice changed back into his own, sounding stressed. "That's not…true. Tell Rika…I'm—" His voice changed back to the dark voice. "Quiet boy!"

"Tell Rika what, Ryo?" Henry ran up to Ryo and shook him. "Snap out of it. Fight it, Ryo!"

"Shut up and die!" Ryo took the cord around Henry and tugged on it. Then he grabbed the branch, attached to the other end of the rope and sprinted. Henry fell face first on the ground and was dragged along the roadside. "Not much of your karate skills can help you now, can it?" He laughed maniacally.

Henry climbed up the rope, loosening the noose a little after each tug, and eventually grabbing Ryo's leg. Ryo tripped. With one quick jump, Henry was back on his feet, his body and face severely scratched, covered in blood. "Ryo, I'm sorry for doing this, but…" Henry jumped up and kicked Ryo in the nose. A loud groan slipped Ryo's mouth as he fell backwards, with his hands over his nose. Henry, too, fell over gasping for air, but he was glad to still be alive.

Ryo got up silently and grabbed the stray branch, which was still tied to the rope. A car turned and stopped in front of the two, the headlights blinding both their sense of sight. A person got out of the car. "My god. What happened?"

Ryo cleared his voice. "My friend passed out."

"Do you guys need a ride home?" the stranger asked.

"No, we're fine. It's right there," Henry replied, completely relieved that he heard Ryo's voice again.

The man nodded his head and went back into his car. In the headlight, Ryo's crimson red eyes glowed and the blood running from his nose gleamed. When Henry caught sight of this, he called out to the man in the car, but he'd already started his engine. Ryo jammed the stick into the bumper as the car drove off. "Bye-bye. Enjoy the ride."

The car picked up speed and Henry was dragged behind it.

- - -

The next morning, the police secured and searched the whole residential area of the city for Ryo Akiyama. Though he wondered why Ryo was missing, Janyu was more concerned about his own son who didn't come home last night. Because the phone was missing, he couldn't call the police. Janyu walked around the apartment building, wondering if Henry had past out. Instead, he found their phone.

"Daddy!" Janyu turned around and was greeted by Suzie.

"Hey!" Janyu placed Suzie on his shoulders. "Hi honey. How was your trip?" He asked receiving a kiss from his wife.

"It was nice to get out of the house. How were you and Henry while we were gone?" Henry's mother asked, carrying her bags.

"Um, about Henry. He said he was going to be out for a little last night, but he never came back."

His wife dropped her bags. "What? Did you report him missing?"

"I will now."

"Hendwy isn't here?" Suzie asked, as she was set on the ground.

Janyu just shook his head.

The search party arrived in the neighborhood where the apartment building resided, searching for any leads to the Akiyama case. "Hey! We've got some blood here! Actually, it looks more like a trail of blood."

"Blood…around here? Could it be Henry's?" Janyu thought aloud.

"Get the forensic crew here. It could be Akiyama's."

- - -

Rumiko knocked on the bathroom door. "Rika, Jeri's here."

Rika opened the door with her towel wrapped around her. "Now?"

"Yes, she said it's urgent. So, hurry up and get dressed."

"Okay, okay." Rika returned to the bathroom.

Rumiko walked back to the living room and gave Jeri a smile. "If you want, you can go wait in Rika's room. I know she won't mind."

"Thank you, Ms. Nonaka." Jeri got up and sauntered into Rika's room. She found the digivice carelessly lying on the floor beside the wall.

"Hey Jeri. What's up?" Rika stood at the door putting her hair up in a ponytail.

"I got a call from Ryo this morning…but he was very demanding. He wanted to know where Takato was being taken care of," Jeri whispered.

Rika rolled her eyes. "Like I said yesterday, he's been acting strange."

"Yeah, tell me about it. Anyway, I told him I didn't know. And then, he threatened to kill me if I didn't tell him." Jeri broke out into tears. "I just hung up on him. I didn't know what to do so I came here. Can I stay here for a couple of nights?"

Rika kneeled down next to Jeri. "Of course. Jeri, don't worry about Ryo. He threatened Henry and he didn't do anything yet. He could be bluffing." Rika grabbed the tissue box off her desk and handed a tissue to Jeri. "Besides, Ryo wouldn't do that. Anyway, I'll be back. I have to let my mom know you're staying."

Rushing out her room and into the kitchen, she grabbed the phone. Her mom was cooking breakfast when Rika said, "Hey mom, Jeri's staying for a couple of days, if that's okay."

"Of course. Jeri's welcome anytime." Rumiko scrambled the eggs in the pan. "Breakfast will be ready soon."

"Okay."

"Oh, by the way, I might be home late tonight. I've got a photo shoot."

"All right." Rika ran back into her room. "We've got the house to ourselves tonight, though that kind of creeps me out. This whole Ryo situation is really getting to me."

Jeri looked up. "Rika, why was your digivice out?"

"Oh, I don't know. I was just looking at it and then an absurd thought came to mind." She took the digivice and put it in her side-table drawer.

"And that absurd thought would be…?"

"I thought a digimon possessed Ryo. I called Henry about it—actually, he said something about the digivice reacting…and he was supposed to call me back."

The two glanced at each other. "You don't think…" An unsettling silence struck them. "Here I'll call him and hopefully he's fine." She dialed the number, while Rika grabbed her digivice again and examined it.

"Hi, may I speak to Henry?" Jeri's face blanched. Rika peered over at Jeri's face before an uneasy feeling obstructed her. "Okay, I'll call the others and see if they know where he is." She put the phone down, turning it off. "Mr. Wong said that he went out last night and never came back."

* * *

Morbid/Dead DF103: Any mistakes are due to the fact of just overlooking them because it is 3:30 in the morning and I want to post it before the big busy weekend. DF103? Anything you want to say?

DF103: Yeah. It's gonna be a busy weekend because I have to work on the Blah, Blah Box with my crew. Yesh. But, the third chapter of It All Comes Down To This is coming soon.


	6. NeverEnding Deception

Never Take A Dare Because Life's Too Short

Chapter 6: Never-Ending Deception

M/D DF103: To answer some questions, everyone will know who's still alive in the next few chapters, I think. I do not wish to share information publicly. But if you MUST know, there are other ways of finding me. And, this IS a Ryo/Rika romance fic, kinda.

DF103: … :monotone, staring blankly at the wall: Clay Aiken is HOT with 8 'T's…

M/D DF103: AHHH! NO:slaps her about a million times: Um, I don't own the characters of Digimon…so go read. :attempts to snap DF103 out of Clay craze:

* * *

"Henry never returned home?" Rika asked incredulously.

"I guess not. Maybe someone else would know. Here, call Ryo," Jeri suggested, passing the phone to Rika. "Since you guys are closer to each other and everything…" Jeri let out a soft giggle.

Rika seemingly gawked at Jeri for a few seconds. "Jeri, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"I don't know. It depends on what you think I'm saying. All I am saying is that ever since the D-Reaper attack, you and Ryo have gotten…closer. That's all." Jeri raised her hands in defense. "Just telling you what I observe, Rika. Besides, I don't even want to talk to him after he threatened me like that."

"Whatever…" Rika dialed Ryo's phone number for the umpteenth time since last night. She allowed the phone to ring five times before she gave up and said, "You know, no one's picked up the phone since I tried to call Ryo last night."

"Ohhhh. So you wanted to talk to him," Jeri perked up.

Rika sighed. "That's not the point. Something is seriously off here."

Jeri cleared her throat and regained her seriousness. "Yeah, no kidding, especially Ryo. He's gone completely mad. As long as he's nowhere near me, I'll be fine, although it does make me feel a little uncomfortable, knowing that he's not home."

Absolute silence struck Rika's room. A shadow slowly crept toward Rika's paper screen, sliding door. The two girls turned around at the creak of a floorboard as the shadow remained in front of the door. Almost instantly, the door abruptly slid open, frightening the two teenagers.

"Breakfast is ready," Seiko announced into the room. A sigh of relief escaped both Rika and Jeri. "You two look startled. Is anything wrong?"

"Everything's fine, Ms. Hata," Jeri assured, smiling and prancing toward the dining room. Seiko chuckled and followed Rika to eat breakfast.

"Look who's here to join us for breakfast, Rika." Rumiko emerged from the kitchen into the dining room with Ryo closely behind her holding a handful of chopsticks. "He's such a gentleman helping me set the table and everything. He's the type of man you should marry." Rumiko winked. Ryo's crimson eyes glinted in the daylight.

Rika stopped dead in her tracks. "Mom!" Rika whined a mixed expression of embarrassment and fear fixed on her face. She clenched her teeth together with a sheepish smile and asked Jeri, "Are you going to be okay?"

Jeri, in response, whispered, "Just don't make me sit next to him."

Rika nodded. "Here, Ryo. I'll get those." Rika snatched the chopsticks out of Ryo's hands. "You can go ahead and sit down."

"Thanks, Rika. You are so kind." Ryo smiled sitting down on the floor. His attention shifted to the cautious Jeri, who sat quietly in front of him. "I'm really sorry about this morning if I scared you or anything. I just felt left out and anxious because I can't visit my friend when he gets hurt. No hard feelings, right?"

Jeri bit her lip and nodded slowly.

"Good. So, do you think you can take me to see Takato?" Ryo asked as he gladly took a bowl of rice from Seiko.

"Actually, no one is allowed to see Takato anymore, even Jeri," Rika replied, handing everyone an eating utensil. "It was because of what happened."

"Oh, too bad," Ryo unsympathetically replied while grabbing some eggs and putting them on top of his rice. "I had a nice clock to give to him, too."

Rika sat down next to Ryo as the rest of the group ate in silence, the chopsticks clattering against the rice bowls. He indistinctly scooted closer to Rika, as he stuffed his mouth. Stares directed toward Ryo seemed to burn right through him when Seiko asked, "Are those red contact lenses the latest style these days?"

"Um, no…?" Ryo replied, trying not to sputter out his food. "I just have them for the heck of it." Hearing this, Rika choked on a grain of rice. Ryo softly patted her on the back, until Rika stopped choking.

"Rika, you should pay attention when you're eating," Rumiko informed.

"Liar," Rika muttered under her breath referring to Ryo's comment as she cleared her throat.

"Rika!" Seiko loudly whispered in an admonitory tone. "Don't be so rude, dear. He's our guest." Rika turned away from Ryo while he chewed and stared blankly at his food.

Jeri frantically twisted her head left and right between Ryo and Rika. "Hey Ryo. Do you happen to know where Henry is? We tried calling his house this morning and it turned out that he was missing."

"No, can't say I have," Ryo calmly replied before suddenly, his head jerked back, dropping and spilling his bowl of rice. In an exhausted tone, Ryo murmured hesitantly, "Henry…is—" before he fell on his back out cold.

"What happened to Ryo?" Rumiko hyperventilated.

"Just get the phone, Rumiko." Seiko slid over to Ryo.

"Oh my gosh." Rika blinked incredulously as did the rest of the people in the room. Her eyes widened as she bent over Ryo and patted his cheeks. "Ryo? Wake up." His eyes immediately opened, forcing Rika to jump back in surprise.

Ryo shook his head, everything around him just a hazy blur. "Um, may I be excused?" he asked before he dashed out of the room, running into Rumiko who brought the phone, and staggering into the bathroom. He glared at himself in the mirror. "What do you think you're doing, boy? Are you trying to interfere with what I'm trying to do for you? You want her and I know this. Don't you want to be the only one to have her?" the sinister voice growled.

"I don't approve of the way you're approaching this. You're hurting her emotionally and now she's terrified of me." Ryo's eyes glowed from blue to red again.

"The funny thing about fear is, people are most vulnerable when they are afraid…"

While Ryo conversed with himself in the bathroom, the Nonaka residents received a phone call from Kazu. He sounded excited and breathless. Rika put him on speakerphone so she and Jeri could hear why Kazu was in such a rush to call.

"Hey, Shinjuku Hospital called me on behalf of Takato's parents, telling me that Takato was moved to the fourth floor. Takato's parents said we're allowed to go visit him!"

"I hope Ryo didn't hear that…" Jeri whispered, peering at the bathroom door.

"Hey, are you guys there? Whoa! Dude! Ryo is on TV! He's gone missing," Kazu exclaimed. "Whoever finds him gets this huge-ass reward. Maybe we should form a search party and split the reward. What do you say? Rika…? Jeri…?"

Moving away from the phone, Rika advanced toward the bathroom door down the hall. "Rika! Are you listening to me?" Kazu yelled out through the phone.

Jeri shushed him loudly as Rika tapped on the door. "Ryo? Are you okay?"

"What? Ryo is at your house? What luck? Share the wealth, Rika!" Kazu cheered through the phone in a singsong tone, before a thought struck him. "Dah! What's he doing at your house?" Kazu repulsed.

"Kazu, shut up!" Rika shouted. Rumiko and Seiko walked past her carrying a pile of dishes, staring at her in disappointment. "I mean, be quiet, Kazu."

With one swift movement, Rika opened the bathroom door, only to find the ventilation window, small enough for a person to fit through, left open. "He's gone… That idiot is gone!"

"No! My money," Kazu whined in defeat through the phone.

Jeri picked up the phone, automatically turning the speakerphone off and setting the phone back to default, and said, "Pipe down, Kazu."

"Don't forget to ask him about Henry, Jeri," Rika suggested as she continued staring at the open window in frustration, her hands at her hips. "Why was he in such a hurry?"

"Hey, have you seen Henry around?" Jeri asked casually. "NO, I DON'T! – Okay, has Kenta seen him around? – Hmm, okay. Bye." She placed the phone back on the charger. "No one has seen him…"

Rika sauntered out of the bathroom looking confused. "This isn't making sense at all."

Jeri looked into the foyer where Ryo's shoes carelessly lay. "He left his shoes here…" Jeri noted, giggling. "Something must've really struck him when he jerked his head back like he did. At least he's not all 'I'm going to get you…' today."

"I really want to know what's happening to him…" Rika muttered. "Ugh! That jerk!"

- - -

Faster than a hobbit's sprint, Ryo, carrying a small box, darted toward Shinjuku Hospital, hopping over several roofs to get there. Slowly, Ryo brought his deftly stunt to a close as he arrived a few meters away from his destination. The electronic doors greeted him as he entered. He strolled up to the front desk, placed his box on the counter, and asked the receptionist, "Where is Takato Mastuki's room?"

The quiet lady tapped on the keyboard and wrote down Takato's room number on a sticky note, giving it to Ryo. Then, she handed him a pen and pointed to a sheet of paper attached to a clipboard. Ryo glanced at it and viewed three columns, the first one labeled, 'Name', the second one labeled, 'Time', and the third one labeled, 'Room'. He stared at the lady. "Do I really have to sign in? Isn't it good enough to know that I'm a friend of his?"

The lady stood up, snatched the note from Ryo's hand, and prodded the clipboard. Ryo grumbled and brought the pen up to the paper. A pleasant thought struck his twisted mind, his sobered red eyes twinkling. He filled out every column and slammed the pen down. "There. Now may I go see Takato?"

Giving Ryo the paper, she sat back down and stared at her computer screen. "Jeez, not even a thank you or goodbye. Some receptionist." Ryo grabbed the box and walked away.

Feeling offended, the receptionist glanced at the clipboard and replied, "Thank you, Mr. Wong."

Ryo smirked and laughed. A shade of cerulean glimmered in Ryo's eyes. "Liar…" he whispered to himself. Stumbling from one side of the hall to the other, Ryo's eyes darkened again. "Shut up," he replied as he received stares from hospital workers and patients. "What are you looking at?"

Stepping into the empty elevator, Ryo pushed the button for the fourth floor. "Now, don't you say a thing, Ryo. I'll do all the talking," Envymon said, dancing in place as if he were Michael Jackson. "Man, I love this body." '4' blinked overhead as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Peering down at the paper in his hand and then at the windowless door, Ryo found Takato's room. He closed the door behind him and gazed deep into the room.

The lights slightly flickered where Takato, dressed in white, rested in bed. Takato was hooked up to an IV, small flexible pipes winding around everything from his body to the bed. He appeared to be sleeping. Ryo poked his forehead. "Hey, Takato."

Roused by Ryo, Takato half opened his eyes. "Oh, hey Ryo," he said dazedly.

"I'm sorry about yesterday. I sort of slipped and you were the only thing I could grab onto," Ryo explained, staring at Takato's weakened form. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just got my dose of painkillers so I'm not with it right now."

"Oh. Well, I brought you something," Ryo said hastily, handing Takato the box.

"Ryo. You didn't have to give me anything." Takato opened and revealed a Gabumon figure with a clock embedded in the middle of his belly. "Whoa," he chuckled.

"Push the button on his paw," Ryo suggested.

Takato did as told and pressed the button. Gabumon's mouth moved and said, "It is eleven forty-eight." Takato was amused as he chuckled again. Afterwards, Gabumon's mouth hung open. It only took another few seconds before heavy black smoke soon seeped out of the clock.

"Oops, seems to be defective," Ryo snickered to himself. "Come on. Let's get out of here." Ryo grabbed Takato's arm, before Takato snapped it away from him. "What!"

"I can't walk."

"I'll carry you then," Ryo replied. Makes this a lot easier, Envymon thought. Carrying Takato on his back, Ryo made his way through the smoke-filled room, by walking against the wall. As he did this, the IV monitor rolled along behind them. Takato coughed violently, causing Ryo to lose a little of his balance.

Ryo felt a latch and then a sheet of glass. He slid the window open as wide as he could as smoke rolled out. He simply dropped Takato out the window.

"What the hell!" Takato yelled out as he fell from the fourth floor window.

Ryo turned around, planning on leaving, before he was smacked in the face with the IV stand. The stand slammed into the window, too long to fly out with Takato. Rubbing his head, Ryo took a glimpse out the window and saw Takato hanging by the tubes, which brought nutrients into his body. Takato's body swung from side to side as the people on the streets pointed in horror; among those people stood the remaining tamers.

"Damn, the tubes were wrapped around his throat. Pity."

The people watched as the body was being pulled up to the window it came out of. The sinister voice from Ryo sounded again. "This body sucks when it comes to hauling things." He heaved Takato in through the window. Ryo's attention then turned to the ruckus outside in the hallway. Voices and footsteps approached. "Shit."

Outside the door, Kazu, Kenta, Rika, and Jeri, along with some hospital employees and security officials waited for the right moment to enter the room.

"Who's in there with Takato?" Kazu asked.

"The receptionist said the last person to sign in to visit this room was Henry," Kenta replied.

Jeri stood still, traumatized by the event she witnessed. Rika, on the other hand, stood impatiently, waiting to see if Takato was okay.

The officials finally broke through the door, where they found the IV unplugged with the tubes tangled everywhere and the bed empty. No one resided in the smoky room. Only the open window in front of them greeted them with open arms as the curtains swayed in the puff of air.

* * *

DF103: I've gone insane. 16 more days till school starts. Bleh, and I didn't finish any of my summer assignments. Oh…my sister and I are having this argument about whether this fic should be NC-17 or not (because I told her the ending). It won't have any sexually explicit stuff, but it does kind of get gross. I don't know. Well, if anyone has a problem with it, I'll water it down, so let me know if you don't want "icky" stuff. :laughs: Anyway, thanks for the reviews so far! I don't know if I'll be getting any more reviews from this point on, but eh. Ah! The laptop is burning my arms. Till next chapter…L8terZ 


	7. Broken Smiles and Skeptical Bonds

Never Take A Dare Because Life's Too Short

Chapter 7: Broken Smiles and Skeptical Bonds

DF103: A note to "i'll tease you in school". Thanks for calling me a loserface in the other review, really, really appreciated it! And…don't approach me at school about this fic cuz I'll freakin' knock you out. Anyway, HURRICANE! My parents did nothing to prepare so I'm gonna lose both computers and die, BUT I decided to write another chapter before I die. I assure you…everything will turn out the way a Ryuki is supposed to. With that having been said…I dun own Digimon. Enjoy this semi-evil-less chapter.

* * *

"Takato!" Jeri cried out, rushing to the window. Her hair swooped forward as she peered down the building from the window. Tears fell from her frail eyes as her knees weakened.

Rika walked up to Jeri and put a friendly hand on her shoulder. She bit her lip unsure of what to say during the situation they were in. The men muttered to themselves as they searched the room for either Takato or 'Henry'. Kazu and Kenta sat on the bed, for the first time in a long time, speechless.

"Do you think Takato survived that?" Kenta asked, picking up the small IV tubes on the floor. Absent-mindedly, he ran his fingers along the tubes, tangling it around his fingers. He held it up. "Aren't these things supposed to go into the arm?"

One of the hospital officials nodded. "If he was hanging by his arm, he should surely be alive."

"That's funny. Takato was hanging like a lynched guy, sort of like this," Kazu explained, as he raised an arm and drooped his head slightly, his tongue hanging out and his eyes rolled back. "And those things were wrapped all over him."

"His eyes weren't rolled back and his tongue wasn't sticking out. It was too far away to actually see his face," Kenta rectified.

Jeri trembled, clenching her fists. "Stop it! Just stop it!" Jeri shouted, flailing toward Kazu with Rika holding her back before falling to her knees and sobbing. "Stop…" she whispered.

"Sorry…" the two blinked and gasped.

"So, Ryo's missing and Henry is somewhere with Takato. It's weird how all this happened after Ryo spent the night in that house," Kenta thought aloud. "Maybe it was wrong of me to dare him to go into that house."

Kazu knocked on Kenta's head. "Ryo _is_ missing because of that house! I told you that house is haunted!" The others' faces faltered as Kazu pointed to each of the tamers. "Because Ryo disturbed whatever presence is in that house, we're all paying for it!"

"Actually, Ryo was just at my house, remember Kazu? And left through a window. I think he came and threw Takato out the window." Rika shook her head and turned to Jeri, who turned out to be standing on the edge of the window. "Holy crap, Jeri!" Rika grabbed Jeri's arm as Kazu and Kenta hopped off the bed stumbling to help Jeri down. "Are you insane?" Rika yelled out.

"Let go of me, Rika!" Jeri demanded shaking off Rika's arm from hers.

As told Rika let go, but sat Jeri down on the bed away from the window. "Hang in there, Jeri."

"Hang in there? I've been holding out. Takato was always there for me when I was in trouble, but where was I when he was in trouble?" Jeri asked, her tears streamed and her nose ran. She backed up toward the window again, away from everyone else.

"You were outside with us, watching?" Kenta answered.

"Kenta, that was a rhetorical question…" Rika commented.

"That's right. I was outside…" Jeri affirmed sadly, burying her face into her hands. "I'm never going to forgive Henry. And if you are right Kazu, then I won't forgive Ryo for threatening me _and_ going into that house, and—and I won't forgive any of you for encouraging him!" She sat down on the windowsill and sobbed. "Goodbye…" she whispered, blinking the last of her tears out of her eyes.

It took a moment for the three to realize what Jeri had said before they watched her slowly fall backwards. "Jeri!" Kazu ran to the window and shot his hand out the window in hopes of grabbing something.

Time seemed to slow down at that moment. Everyone in the room held their breaths as Kazu slowly peered out the window. He breathed heavily as he looked down at Jeri, her saddened eyes staring back up at him. The wind blew again as Jeri's hair clung to her face and in the midst of her hair, a weakened smile appeared. With much help from the hospital workers, Kenta and Rika, Kazu was able to get Jeri back on her two feet.

A man from the hospital approached Jeri. "You need to find yourself some help," a man advised Jeri, leading her out the door. "But first, let's call your parents."

"I'm sorry, kids. All we can do is hope that Takato is okay, whoever he's with." The man in white with two other men walked out of the room muttering sarcastically, "This is going to make the hospital look real good…"

Kazu collapsed on the bed. "That's enough excitement for one day…" Echoing in the hallway, the three teens heard Takato's name being yelled out.

"Spoke too soon, visor-dork," Rika retorted. "I have a feeling Gogglehead's parents aren't going to take this very well…"

- - -

Ryo sat under a tree in the park, picking the small rocks, thorns, and splinters he's stepped on out of the sole of his feet. "Lucky for you, Ryo buddy, you wore socks," Envymon laughed, still in Ryo's body, peering at the bloodied socks a couple of inches away from his feet. "You'll have your dear sweet Rika before you know it. Just two more of the wretched kids you call friends."

"She'll never forgive me, even when she finds out it was you who decided to take over my body and whatnot."

"Ah, then you must force her to like you. You mustn't let the inferior of your species manipulate you."

"What the hell! You are wrong. We're all equal. How the hell would you know, anyhow? Digimon don't have gender!" Ryo grunted and sputtered, "You're sick. Just f-ing sick! You're taking everything I've held so dear away from me. You've taken my body, my voice, my friends—all this for a girl who doesn't even _know_ I like her!"

"Ryo, Ryo, Ryo…" Envymon's deep voice sounded. "First of all, you shouldn't yell. People will see you talking to yourself, even though you are talking to me. Second, I know how you foolish humans function. I, too, was a loyal digimon to a nice tamer—"

"Loyal? What, did you kill 'em off, too?"

Envymon hissed, "Shut up, you—"

"I don't care about your stupid past or how you came about. I don't need your assistance, so get out of me!"

"Don't need my services? That hurts, Ryo…" Envymon muttered. He raised his voice. "If you think you can do better, then prove it! Let's see if that hypothesis will be supported by how you approach her."

"You better believe it!" Ryo yelled out and paused. A black mist overran Ryo's sight and abruptly disappeared. "Do I have my life back?" He paused again before cheering and jumping up. He winced at the pain in his feet. "I guess I have to retrieve my shoes." He grabbed his socks and ventured to Rika's.

Ryo slowly and gently lifted his feet, leaving a trail of blood. He headed, in this way, to Rika's house, hobbling as if he were walking on fire. Often at times, Ryo stumbled along the roadside as he passed the hospital. Someone ran up to him from behind and picked him up by his shirt collar.

"What did you do with Takato!" Takato's dad demanded furrowing his eyebrows. "Where is he!" He shook him vigorously, angrily staring at him.

"I-I didn't do anything," Ryo stuttered in fear, keeping eye contact.

"Oh! Oh really? Let's just ask the receptionist to identify you, huh? Let's just go do that," Takato's dad assertively suggested, grabbing Ryo's arm and leading him to the hospital doors.

As the doors slid open and Takato's dad and Ryo rushed in, Rika walked out, causing them to collide. Rika glanced at the two of them, observing that Takato's dad was grasping onto Ryo's shirt cuff. "What are you doing, Mr. Matsuki?" Rika asked.

"Checking Ryo's alibi…"

"Have you not heard? Henry was the last person in Takato's room today, just a few minutes before the incident," Rika informed.

Takato's dad unleashed Ryo, gaping at Rika in embarrassment. He turned to apologize to Ryo, but he had fled. The two watched him run away, heading for the residential area. "Hey Rika. If you see Ryo, apologize to him for me. I can't believe I wrongly accused him."

"I wouldn't blame you…" Rika commented absent-mindedly, viewing Ryo turn a corner. "I'll see you later, Mr. Matsuki," Rika said, sprinting in the same direction as Ryo.

When Rika turned the corner to what she thought would be an empty street, she spotted Ryo sprawled out on his back in the middle of the road. Rika approached him slowly and noticed his feet were bloody red and inflamed. Crossing her arms and asking herself why she had to go this particular way, Rika clicked her tongue and said, "That's what you get for leaving your shoes at my house…"

Ryo's head shot up and glanced at Rika before falling back down. "Can I get those back, by the way?"

"I don't know. You haven't quite been yourself…" Rika declared. "…Swinging off of Takato's leg, coming to my house for breakfast, leaving the house through a bathroom window. What gives, Akiyama? Or should I say 'Henry'?" Rika asked, using the infamous quote-unquote gesture when she named 'Henry'.

Ryo didn't even twitch, as he thought of something on a whim. "I left your house through that window because…I heard Henry's voice. And then, I actually saw him and I knew you guys were looking for him so I went after him…"

At the spur of the moment, Rika's qualms disappeared. "So, it really was Henry? I thought it was you who signed in as Henry and threw Takato out the hospital window…but it really was Henry."

Still lying on the ground, Ryo looked skyward, widening his eyes and sighing in relief thinking, I can't believe she bought that story. He sat up. "Takato was thrown out the window?" Ryo asked in a seemingly incredulous tone.

"Yeah…and for the while, I thought it was you. I still think it's you."

"I wouldn't blame your for accusing me and I don't blame Takato's dad or anyone else either. I was an ass." Ryo got up and staggered. "Um, can I get my shoes back now, please?"

"Yeah, sure…" Rika replied, taking Ryo's arm and holding it around her neck and slightly over her shoulder. Ryo's blue eyes lightened. "Don't think anything of this. I'm just helping you because you're hurt."

"Thanks Rika," Ryo said, limping. Not another word was spoken afterward.

Reaching Rika's house, Rika walked into the bathroom as Ryo grabbed his shoes and turned around to leave, still shambling. "Wait Ryo." Rika came out of the bathroom with some medical tape, gauze, a bag cotton balls, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. "We should get your feet wrapped up or else it'll hurt like hell when you put your feet into those sneakers."

Turning back around, Ryo nodded. He plopped himself on the wooden floor and dusted the soles of his feet over the concrete floor. Rika took some cotton balls and put some on alcohol on it. Then, she applied it onto Ryo's foot where he jumped at the stinging sensation. "Don't be such a baby," Rika replied, throwing the bloody cotton balls to the side and following the same procedures again with the other foot.

"I would have never thought you would do this kind of thing for me," Ryo said, leaning back against the wall. Rika wound Ryo's wounds with gauze and looked up. "I don't remember the last time someone's done this for me."

"Well, you're hurt. And, I'm not always bitchy, you know. I have a heart," Rika replied, wrapping both feet with tape to hold the gauze. "There…" She closed the bottle of alcohol and cleaned up around her.

Ryo smiled. "Thanks again, Rika." Ryo got up with the help of Rika and put his shoes on. He embraced Rika in a short hug before leaving the house.

Rika stared out her door, even though she couldn't see him. "If only I could believe everything you say…" she said, a broken smile etched on her face.

* * *

DF103: HURRICANE! CATEGORY 4! I had to update before the power went out for a week or so. So, here's a chapter. If I die, at least I left y'all with a no-kill chapter. If I live, I'll be back again later. Thanks for all the reviews up to this point. I'll see you all later. Hopefully, I'll survive Charley's wrath. L8terZ. 


	8. More Than Service

Never Take A Dare Because Life's Too Short

Chapter 8: More Than Service

DF103: The Ryuki section died with occasional twitches and spasms. Oh yes.

M/D DF103:comes behind DF103: Hahah:constantly hits DF103 with a pan: I'm back! No one will stuff me back in her brain again! No more mushy-close-to-gushy stuff. I can only give credit to DF103 for torturing some people by handing them a copy of the 155-page fic _LRIFR&R_ to edit, evil her…but not as evil as me! Anyway, back to the evil-ness…it's been a while. I don't own Digimon.

* * *

Walking out of the Nonaka gates, Ryo hollered, "In your face, Envymon!" lifting himself into the sky, though the pain in his feet brought him back down to sheer reality. He, unfortunately, remembered he fibbed to Rika about the window situation. "My life's turned into a lie…" He brought his arms to the back of his head. "At least he's gone. Hmm, maybe he dissipated back to the Digital World." He laughed to himself.

"Ryo!" someone yelled out from behind him. Ryo whirled around and perked his eyebrows at what he saw.

- - -

Lingering about her house, Rika heard a light beeping sound from somewhere, although she couldn't pinpoint where the sound was coming from or what it was. Her grandmother was out and her mother was at work, so what was making that noise? Rika followed the pulsating sound and eventually found herself, staring at her side-table. She slowly opened the drawer and glanced at the digivice where the red arrows blinked simultaneously circling around as it searched for data.

Rika stumbled back, frantically moving her eyes about at all the darkened corners of her room. Someone emerged from the shadows, an indefinite human-like figure. For the moment, Rika thought it was… "Renamon?"

A deep chuckle resounded from that corner and it abruptly stopped as the figure moved out of the shadows with a bland expression. Rika gasped, red gaunt eyes gazing into Rika's violet orbs.

- - -

Ryo gawked at Kazu, who had a necklace of garlic cloves over each of his shoulders, a chain with a cross around his neck, a stake, in one hand, and a hammer in the other. Then, Ryo spotted a large water gun, latched onto his belt loop. "I won't let you get away with this!" Kazu pointed the stake at Ryo as if unsheathing a mighty sword.

"Kazu, what are you talking about?" Ryo's eyebrows furrowed. "Did I miss something?"

"Um, yeah, whatever you are, E.D.," Kazu scoffed.

"E.D.?" Ryo's face grew more confused.

"Evil-doer! Don't kid yourself, big faker. Ryo's gone! I'm the only one who actually knows you did something to him, so I'm going to get rid of you!" Kazu held both the hammer and the stake in one hand, slowly raising the silver embellished cross in Ryo's face. Kazu's face blanched. "It's not working!"

Ryo's façade faltered. "Maybe because I'm real?"

"The garlic doesn't have any effect at all either." He peered down at his stake and hammer with narrowed eyes.

- - -

"Erika, I've longed for your return…"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Rika asked, raising a brow. "Are you okay, Ryo? Wait. Don't answer that. What are you doing in my room? No, how did you get in my room; you just left. And what's with the Erika business?"

With his red piercing eyes glazed over, he answered, "This is only a mere disguise. Don't you recognize my voice, Erika? Envymon, remember, 'Rika' Kurosawa? I've waited for you in the Digital World…waited before I came to your world and searched for you. And then one day I saw you with all those scumbags, those people who made fun of you. Why didn't you return?"

"Okay Ryo, I don't know and I don't care how you got in my room. Just quit with the childish act, okay?"

" 'Rika'…" The Ryo look-alike digimon took a step closer to Rika.

Rika stood up grabbing her digivice and sidled along the wall toward her door. "It was you. You're the one who grabbed Takato's leg from the edge of Henry's balcony. You came to my house and escaped from my bathroom window this morning. And the way you look. What did you do with Ryo?" Rika demanded. "What's happening around here!"

"Erika, I'm doing this for you…"

Rika mouthed a solemn 'what' before answering, "Well, first of all, I'm not the same Rika you're talking about and secondly, I don't need your assistance in anything. Get the hell out of my room!"

"But, 'Rika'. I'm helping you…like last time, remember?"

"Haven't you heard of privacy?"

"Nothing can be kept in privacy forever." He neared her. "You hold the digivice in which we become tamer and digimon. Do you not remember, Erika? Why didn't you come back when you said you would?"

"Rika? I'm home!" a voice resonated throughout the house, followed by a distant sound of bags being set down.

_Saved by grandmother_, Rika thought. She grabbed the door and glanced once more at Envymon before leaving the room, rushing into the kitchen where her grandmother was.

"What's wrong Rika? And why are you clutching the table like that?"

"I'm fine. I'll be back," Rika said, leaving through the front door.

Upon closing the door behind her, a pale green butterfly, its fine angelic dust trailing behind, flew into the house. Wanting to let the insect out, she opened the door again and found herself staring into the house with the butterfly gone. "Strange."

Dialing Jeri's phone number, she pushed the thought aside and sat within the gates of her house. "Why isn't anyone picking—oh, hi. Is Jeri there? Oh, okay. Bye." She put her phone back in her pocket. _Jeri should be home by now…_ Rika pondered and looked at her D-arc, which blinked and pointed back into her house. _It's still in there. I should stay out for a little bit. Maybe this is a nightmare. I'll wake up soon._ As Rika approached the gates, putting her digivice into her pocket, she heard distant voices squabbling over something. She opened the door, only to find Kazu and Ryo standing in front of the next house looking like they're about to have a duel.

"This is for you, chumley," Kazu uttered before lunging at Ryo with both the stake and hammer.

"Kazu! What are you doing!" Rika yelled out, running up to the two and snatching the stake away from him.

"Rika, that guy right there is not Ryo, so give me back the stake and everything is going to be fine," Kazu assured, reaching for the pointed wooden stick.

"Kazu, you're delusional! Even if Ryo wasn't Ryo, although he _is_ the real Ryo, he's not a vampire!" Rika exclaimed.

"Look at him, Rika! How can he not be a vampire?" Kazu shouted pointing at Ryo and flailing his other arm.

Rika took a large step back; the garlic fumes hitting her square in the face. "The sun is still up…" She felt something brush by and saw something from the corner of her eye. _Great, now I'm seeing and feeling things. Could my day get any better? _A light beeping was heard.

Again, Kazu's face blanched, before he narrowed his eyes. "You two are in on it together. You got rid of both of them and I'm—I'm probably next." He whipped out the water gun and pointed it at Rika and Ryo. "Stay back. I'm warning you. I'll shoot." He approached them, inching slowly. Ryo stuck a foot out and Kazu, as a reflex, shot Ryo with a high pressure of water." A light beeping was heard.

"Oh no…I'm melting," Ryo joked, pretending to sink into the ground.

Rika put her hands on her hips and shook her head. She looked at the ground and saw four shadows. Kazu's shadow was above hers and Ryo's. Who owned the other shadow? A light beeping was heard. Ryo continued to laugh at his own act. Dropping the water gun forced Ryo and Rika to look up at Kazu's frightened face.

"Kazu…I was only joking," Ryo assured.

"Oh man. I'm so sorry. I believe you, okay? The jokes on me. I'll see you later," Kazu blabbered, before stumbling away from Ryo and Rika.

"What got him all spooked out?" Ryo questioned, turning to Rika, before everything in his vision seemed to black out. A light beeping was still heard.

It occurred to Rika when the anomalous shadow disappeared that the beeping had been her D-arc. She snapped it out and found the arrows blinking simultaneously in place. Beep. Beep. Beep. Ryo's eyes glared the same colors of the horizon, an ominous red.

_It's all making sense now._ "It is all making so much sense now," Rika whispered, backing away. Ryo stared at Rika. The only solution Rika thought of was to run and so she did. She glanced back a couple of times as she had done before and saw him just staring back at her, not moving from his place.

"She ran in the same direction as Kazu…" Envymon's voice crept out of Ryo's mouth. "Shall we visit your friend then, hmm?"

- - -

_Why am I running? He's not behind me anymore. _Rika glanced behind her._ Good._ She was near Takato's bakery. The lights weren't on and not a soul stirred inside the building. _Takato's parents must be devastated._ A golden-colored and a yellow butterfly fluttered past Rika. Watching the two butterflies go by reminded Rika of the pale green butterfly she saw earlier. _Strange._ Rika sat in front of the bakery and hung out until she felt things were safe.

Thoughts pounded against her head and the one that hit the hardest seemed to be the one about Envymon. _Psh. Yeah, Erika…right. That digimon is obsessed. Who would want a digimon like that jerk? _She let out a sad sigh. _Renamon. _

- - -

Ryo lurked along the outside walls of Kazu's house, while a one-way argument occurred.

"Kazu! You wasted my perfectly good garlic." Kazu's mom stared down Kazu. "What am I supposed to do about dinner?"

"I'm sorry." Kazu timidly offered his mom the necklace of garlic.

"Oi. I would make you go buy it, but you need to study for once instead of clowning around. I'll be right back." With that, his mom grabbed her shopping bag.

_Whew, she can get really crabby sometimes,_ Kazu thought, plopping himself on his swivel chair.

Envymon crept under the window view of Kazu's window and listened. The door to the front door opened and closed, followed by the dwindling sound of clattering shoes. "Perfect." He spotted a hose and grabbed it. He opened the window and Kazu screamed.

"Dude, Ryo. You scared me. This thing called a door… Use it, the next time you come over," Kazu explained, awkwardly.

"Nice to know…" Ryo replied, climbing into Kazu's room, dropping the hose on the floor. "Hope you don't mind me bringing that in here."

"Not at all Ryo-man. Hey, that prank you and Rika played on me was awesome. And you know what? This is great. Kenta is going to be here soon and now you're here, Ryo." He spun around in his chair. "We can play a prank on Rika tonight."

_Here's my chance._ Envymon wrapped the hose tightly around Kazu. "Don't move now."

"Hey, what's the deal?" Kazu attempted to free himself of the hose's grip. "Ryo. Did I piss you off that much for me to deserve this?"

"No…you just piss Rika off. Now hold still!" Envymon lunged at Kazu, before Kazu pushed against the floor to roll away. Envymon tried to get Kazu again.

"Okay, Ryo, you can stop joking around now." Kazu rolled away from Envymon's grasp again. Kazu wanting to get away tried to escape and rolled to the door, but the hose caught on one of the wheels and he fell over. Envymon laughed sinisterly. "Gee Ryo. I didn't know you could laugh like that. I don't remember your voice being that deep either," hints of fear overtaking his voice.

Envymon snatched the end of the hose and brought it to Kazu's neck. "Ryo. No. No! Ryo! No!"

* * *

M/D DF103: Argh. I'm a little rusty on my writing. How horrible. Any repetition in this fic is/was intentional. Apologies for if this chapter seemed rushed. We're still recovering from the damage made by most of the hurricanes that hit our area, but anyway, the computers are fine. I will be back. Indeed. Two or three more chapters to go. Until our paths cross again, kiddie-os, rest in pieces. 


	9. Boy Toys For You

Never Take A Dare Because Life's Too Short

Chapter 9: Boy Toys For You

DF103:wakes up: …I hate you…

M/D DF103: I hate you, too.

DF103:glares: I would like to announce that I have drawn a picture of Jason in a suit from LRIFR&R and it's on my deviantART account site-thingy the link is on my profile page so if you're interested…you can take a quick gander.

M/D DF103: No advertising, you moron. :hits DF103 with a pan again: Uhm…the song that should be played while reading this chapter is by Coheed and Cambria, "Three Evils (Embodied in Love and Shadow)." I didn't put it in, so if you don't know the song, search for the lyrics. However, this is not a must. Mwahahah! Now, the freaky nasty chapter comes. So, I don't own Digimon… **Warning: reader's discretion advised.**

* * *

As the sun set, Kenta approached the Shioda household, carrying his PS2 system in a duffle bag full of clothes and safeguarding a pristine unopened Digimon game he had bought. He set his bag down, and lightly tapped on the door. He pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, waiting for someone to answer. Again, he tapped. "Sheesh, what a way to greet a friend." Kenta inadvertently hit his arm on the doorknob, suddenly forcing the door to slowly open. "Let's surprise him, my sweet Digimon game."

Pushing the door as Kenta pranced inside, an orange butterfly fluttered out. "Hmm, wonder if that was supposed to be in there…" He grabbed his bag and shut the door behind him. Setting his bags down again, he taunted, "Hey Kazu! Come on. I brought something that'll keep us busy for hours!" Nothing. "Fine then…"

Kenta kicked his shoes off and swooped up his bag, making his way to Kazu's room. The house remained eerily quiet as Kenta arrived in front of Kazu's closed door. He gave the door a rapid rapping on Kazu's chamber door. Again, no one answered; instead, music that sounded like Mario resonated from the inside. Gripping and twisting the doorknob, Kenta opened the door to the dark room and found Kazu sitting in front of the television in his chair with his hands on a game controller. Deep into that darkness peering, long he stood there wondering why Kazu didn't answer.

"Hope you don't mind me coming in like that." Kenta dropped his stuff on the floor and approached Kazu. He glanced at the screen where nothing was moving, just a Mario figure standing in place as the music played. "Dude, don't quit playing just because I'm here," Kenta said. Kazu's blank half-opened eyes stared at the screen. "Come on Kazu…" Kenta gently shook him, when Kazu's head rolled back, his bloodshot eyes doing the same. "Oh, my gosh! Kazu? Kazu!"

The lights turned on and Ryo stood at the doorway eating a pint-container of ice cream.

"Ryo!" Kenta exclaimed, "What happened to Kazu?" Kazu's body slowly slipped out of the chair and before long, fell onto the floor. His eyes seemingly popping, Kenta looked up at Ryo and asked, "Is he dead?"

"Looks pretty dead to me…" Ryo replied sticking another spoonful of strawberry ice cream in his mouth.

"Did—did you do this to him?" Kenta stuttered. He shot his head up. "Why are you here anyway?"

Ryo shrugged and held out the container of ice cream in front of Kenta's face. "You want some?"

"Actually, I think we should call an ambulance." Kenta poked Kazu's cheek. "He's cold and not breathing."

Kenta got up and ran up to the door, before Ryo stuck the container in Kenta's face. Ryo narrowed his eyes and hissed, "You didn't answer my question…" He smiled and took another scoop of ice cream. "Now…would you like some delicious strawberry ice cream?"

"Um…no, thanks. I'm good," Kenta replied letting out a nervous chuckle.

Ryo, who had a look of apathy as a dab of ice cream dripped from the spoonful onto the floor, slightly nodded his head in acceptance, before shoving the spoon down Kenta's throat. "Well, have some anyway…"

Kenta gagged and fell onto the floor, dropping his glasses and the spoon. He shuffled around to search for his glasses and as he did, he whined, "What's wrong with you, Ryo? We have to call an ambulance. We might be able to save Kazu."

"Foolish child. Can you not see that he's long gone," Ryo growled, as his voice lowered to Envymon's tone.

Kenta's eyes bolted to Ryo's. Dark red glimmers in his eyes reflected in the light.

"This is where I'm supposed to run, isn't it?" Kenta scuttled into a corner. "Kazu was right. I should've believed him." He closed his eyes and shuffled for his glasses again, only to hear a 'crunch' and indistinctly see Ryo's foot crush them. "Ryo! I needed those. What's wrong with you? You were so nice."

"Maybe I'm not Ryo."

"Then—then who are you?" Kenta asked, squinting.

"This may sound a little cliché but…" Envymon kneeled down and whispered in his ear, "Your worst nightmare."

Kenta stared blankly at him before he raised a brow. "You're joking, right?"

Envymon threw the paper container of half-melted ice cream at Kenta's face. "Pitiful moron."

"Whoever you are…please spare me."

"You know what? Sit your ass down in that chair and maybe I'll think about sparing you," Envymon spat, as he strutted around the room. Kenta scrambled for the seat and sat in it, trying to avoid Kazu's body. Envymon glanced at Kenta's attempted poker face, and laughed. "Are you afraid?"

Sweat trickled down the side of Kenta's face as he clutched the seat of the chair. His arms trembled and his knees quivered. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" Kenta uttered under his breath.

Another low chuckle escaped Envymon's throat. "Do as I say and I will take it easy on you…" He walked around the chair; from behind Kenta, Envymon brought his hands onto his shoulders, and whispered in his ear, "A nice, slow death. How does that sound?" The digimon patted his shoulder as no answer squeaked from his mouth. "I knew you would love that idea. So, I trust that you will stay right here, while I go get something."

Envymon headed out the door, before he stuck his head back into the room. "Or else…"

He entered the kitchen, grabbed the phone, and rushed back into the room, only to find Kenta on the floor with his fingers on the window's edge, trying to climb out the window.

The possessed Ryo squinted his eyes at the window and it slammed shut on Kenta's fingers. A painful yelp resonated throughout the house; Kenta struggled to get his numbing fingers free. Envymon stepped over Kazu and grabbed Kenta's hair. "I thought I told you to stay in the chair."

"J-j-just getting some fresh air. I mean, come on. How far do you think I can go like this…without my glass…in the dark? I-I-I'd probably get run over or something," Kenta hesitated.

Envymon raised an eyebrow. "You. Getting run over by a car." He raised his head and thought. "No, no. That's already been done to someone else. What's his name?" His eye twinkled at the realization as he pointed the phone at Kenta. "Ah… Henry…" An eerie maniacal laugh poured out of Envymon.

"So, he _is_ dead," Kenta whispered, his fingers still caught in the windows grasp.

"Of course…they _all_ are, minus Rika, mind you, all thanks to me," Envymon confessed.

"That's a pretty big confession to make to someone you're going to release…"

"Oh? Then, I have to kill you, too." A smug look spread across his face. "But, I need you to call Rika and tell her to meet you at the old house."

Kenta's jaw dropped, his eyes furrowed with fury. "If I'm going to die anyway, then why should I bother doing anything for you!"

"You have to do it…OR ELSE…"

"Or else what? Are you going to rip out my vocal cords and do it yourself?" At that moment, an awkward silence struck between the two, both eyeing each other. Kenta displayed a self-satisfied grin, as he knew in his head that he had won _the last word_ in the argument until…

"Precisely."

The glassless boy fell over in defeat as much as he could without straining his purple fingers. "Okay, okay. Dial her number and hold the phone up to my ear."

As told, Envymon dialed Rika's home number and put it up to Kenta's ear. "Hello? This is Kenta. May I speak to Rika? …Oh, she's not. Okay, could I leave a message? Could you tell her that we're meeting at that one house in a few minutes? It's kind of important. You know…the old one. Oh, all right then. Bye." He looked up. "She's not home. And she wouldn't be able to go anyway, her mom being a famous model and all."

"Damn."

"I tell you what. Since I did what you asked, can I just go now? I swear I won't tell anyone!"

Right when Envymon was about to answer, the front door opened. "Look what you did Kazu. I walked all the way down to the store and it was closed."

"Shit. Why do people have to interfere?" Envymon sputtered, turning to Kenta. "Your torture will be postponed."

"What?" Kenta said in merriment.

"Come, now!" Envymon whispered, opening the window and freeing Kenta's fingers.

Rapid footsteps approached Kazu's room.

"Where are we going?" Kenta whispered.

The footsteps stopped at the door.

"Just come!" Envymon hissed.

"Kazu, if you're not at your desk studying, you will not have…" Kazu's mother burst the door open and found the room empty, "…dinner."

Melted ice cream with the container, lacking the spoon lay splayed on the floor and the video game was left on. Kenta's bag was left behind also. Kazu's lonely visor sat in the middle of it all as a cold autumn's breeze blew into the room through an open window. Kazu's mother clenched her fists. "Kazu, you're going to get it when you get home!"

- - -

Destined to the old house, Kenta and Envymon carried Kazu as two friends would for their drunken friend. While Envymon held up one side of Kazu, he grasped Kenta's shirt to avoid an escape attempt and to avoid him running into anything, of course. Kazu's shoeless feet dragged along the sidewalk, as the nighttime clubbers emerged from their houses. Stares and strange looks overwhelmed the two as they increased their pace. "So, uh, Ryo. Where do you dump the bodies exactly?"

"You'll know when you're dead, now shut up before anyone hears you."

Kenta whimpered. "Okay. Tell me this. Why do you want to see Rika, especially at this hour?"

Envymon gritted his teeth and shot a glare at Kenta. "Boy, you better shut your mouth. You're lucky I spared you for a bit."

"Your motives?"

With the snap of his wrist, Envymon impetuously shoved Kenta and the corpse of Kazu in an alley. He dropped Kazu and slammed Kenta against the wall. "Look around Sir Former Four-Eyes. It's the 21st century. Motives aren't needed. Too many poorly-made horror movies for you."

"W-well, if you d-don't have any motives…then, why d-did you t-target us, tamers?" Kenta stuttered, glimmers of tears streaming down his cheeks.

Ryo, who hadn't been able to overcome the digimon's power, brought his arm up against Kenta's throat. "If you're so scared, why do you constantly ask stupid obvious questions?" Kenta opened his mouth to answer before more pressure was added to his gullet. "That was a rhetorical question. I think it's about time you're tortured. I've never kept one of my victims alive for this long."

From out of his pocket, Envymon took out a slender, silver object; it twinkled as he brought it up to Kenta's face.

"Ah, a knife!" Kenta's voice cracked.

"No… it's a spoon."

"…Oh."

Envymon ripped and snatched a piece of Kenta's shirt and stuffed it in his mouth. Kenta's retches and sobs were silenced. "Now open wide."

The evil digimon pressed Kenta's body up against the wall while he widened Kenta's eyes. He slid the spoon into his eye socket where he had trouble cutting the nerve. The poor boy struggled, trying to push Envymon back. His muffled shrieks went nowhere. A piercing scream escaped his mouth when Envymon scooped the spoon out, successfully with the eyeball. "There. Now you don't need those silly glasses anymore. Besides, Rika doesn't need anymore wandering eyes on her." He held the eyeball up. "These make gorgeous marbles," he commented, a disgusting smirk growing on his face.

- - -

"Mom? Grandma? I'm home." Rika kicked her shoes off as she entered her house. "Sorry I'm late." She set her D-power down and walked into the dining room.

"Oh Rika. A boy named Kenta called for you," Rumiko said, sitting at the table for dinner.

Rika raised a brow. "Kenta? Really? Did he leave a message or anything?" She sat herself at the table.

"Not that it'd really matter because I told him you couldn't go, but everyone is meeting at the run-down house. Honestly, what kind of parents actually let their kids run around that place at this hour—Rika?" Rumiko looked up and saw Rika putting her shoes back on. "Rika, I don't want you over there."

"They might've found everyone, mom. It'll only be a few minutes," Rika assured before running out of the house and grabbing her bike on her way out of the gate. She turned her bike light on and sped down the road to destination: where it all started.

She nearly leaped off of her bicycle when she skidded onto the lawn of the old house. She approached the door with caution, taking the time to notice that there were four butterflies, fluttering about the yard, each a different color: pale green, golden yellow, lemon yellow, and orange. "What is up with the butterflies, especially at this time of the year?" Rika asked herself.

Digressing, Rika stood at the porch of the house looking for signs of Kenta, or anyone. "They better not be inside," Rika sighed, leaning against the door, which opened with one swoop. Rika regained her balance and wondered _I thought this door was jammed before._ She let herself inside. Her first few steps were meticulously taken, as she examined the room. It was different; the dust didn't churn and the cobwebs were all gone. Candles that were nonexistent flickered along the walls. It was as if someone had been living there.

A voice in the distance aroused Rika's attention. She tiptoed farther into the house and found herself sidling along the wall toward the library, the epicenter of the voice.

In the library area where more candles flickered, a rancid odor permeated throughout the room. As Rika covered her nose, she saw four people sitting at the desk while someone seemed to be giving them a lesson or a lecture. _Could it be them?_ Rika thought; she was too far away to make out any faces; however, she could distinguish they were all guys. She observed what went on before she acted.

Four ropes hung overhead the speaker as he paced in front of the desks. Rika moved in a little closer behind a shelf of books. She peered at the five again. She saw an outline of everyone's faces, but still couldn't see who it was. But this time around, she heard what was being said.

"So, who will take the honor of calling her, hmm?" the speaker grumbled. "Henry? Takato? Kazu? Kenta?"

_It's them. Are they still alive? And, that guy sounds like that digimon from before._ Rika asked herself. The speaker pulled one of the ropes and simultaneously a hand went up. _They are!_ "Hey, you guys!" She emerged from hiding and ran up to them.

"Ah, no need for that boys. Our mistress has arrived."

Rika stopped dead in her tracks as she encountered the source of the putrid smell. She hesitated moving, her feet seemingly planted into the floor, her eyes widened in horror.

Henry dripped blood onto the table. One side of Henry's face looked normal, but the other half was scraped away to the bone. What small patch of hair Henry had left was no longer blue, but brown…or maybe it was a dark red. His shirt was tattered, covered in blood. Maggots ate away at the flesh around the neck, where a distinct red ring was; Rika heard them squish around.

Takato, still in a hospital gown, sat motionless in the chair. He no longer had his trademark goggles to hold his bangs up from falling in front of his eyes. His tongue hung loosely from his purple lips and he stared downward blankly with bloodshot eyes. With a complexion lighter than that of Rika's or even a ghost's, the candlelight reflected off of his face the most. Even in death, his face still lit up.

Kazu's mouth hung open, his head still rolled back. Although his feet were under the desk, they bled, all the toes lacking nails from being filed down by the ground. And, Kenta, a gruesome sight, which made him seem like he was crying blood, had tape over his mouth. His body quivered with every slow intake of breath. Both arms and legs were contorted in different directions, his knees and elbows bending the wrong way. "Let's end this torture, eh?" Envymon grabbed Kenta's head and with one thrust. 'Crack.'

Rika whipped around and retched, falling to her knees. A faded lavender colored butterfly appeared over Kenta's head and fluttered away. "Another one…?" Rika whispered.

"Souls flutter out. They wander in the form of butterflies."

"So that means…" Rika's eyes widened. _Green, Henry. Gold, Takato. Orange, Kazu. Lavender, Kenta. Whose is the yellow one?_ Rika's mind raced, before her mind flashed back to when Leomon was killed by Beelzemon. She remembered the yellow D-power, and with that, she remembered Jeri's saddened face. _Jeri's dead?_ _Takato's death must've devastated her…_ "Why the hell are you doing this, Ryo? Envymon?"

"Why don't you ask them? They all know."

"They're all dead, you bastard," Rika roared.

Envymon turned to the four at the table. "Tell her. Why did I do this? Anyone?" He grabbed all four of the ropes and tugged. The other ends led to the hands of Henry, Takato, Kazu, and Kenta; all of their right arms went up. "Pick me, pick me, oh great Ryo. I want to tell her that we're her boy toys now because we made fun of her a long time ago," Envymon ventriloquized, ending in laughter.

"You're sick. You are sick! I told you. You've got me mixed up with someone else! Go to Hell for killing my friends!" Rika jumped up and swung a fist at Envymon, somewhat hesitating that she might hurt Ryo. Envymon fell to the floor, as did the arms of the four corpses. Rika backed away and headed toward the door, before…

"Rika, come…back." Rika stopped and turned around.

"Ryo?"

"I'm sorry, Rika," Ryo said. "I'm sorry I tried to…" Suddenly, his voice reverted to Envymon's, "…bring you back to me. You honestly didn't come back for a reason and now I see why. You choose them over me…" he disappeared and Rika twisted around to look for him. He appeared again behind her and cocked a gun against her back. "If I can't have you…then no one can." He smirked. "It's amazing what you find in a place you once lived," he said, taking the safety off of the gun.

Rika gulped. In the presence of a gun, she was frightened, but she didn't show it. "What kind of relationship did you have with her? You're just a digimon."

"Shut up…"

"I mean, you're pretty lousy if you have some kind of love affair with your tamer."

"Shut…up…"

"Do you even have special attacks?"

"Shut up! You really disappoint me, Erika." He pressed the gun into her back some more and put his finger on the trigger. "Time to meet your friends," and with that…

The gun fell on the floor. No bang, no pow.

"Rika, take the gun. Quickly, before Envymon takes over again…"

Rika turned around and saw Ryo's blue eyes in the light. She nodded and picked it up. "What should I do with it?"

"Shoot me," Ryo replied.

Rika froze. "Ryo, I can't do that!" Rika exclaimed.

A flash in his eyes blinked and regressed to red. "You'll pay for hitting me like that, bitch." Envymon lunged toward Rika.

"I'm not a bitch…" Rika pointed the gun at Envymon, closed her eyes and shot. A groan following a 'thud' led Rika to believe that they were gone. She didn't want to open her eyes and see.

"Ah…" Ryo moaned. "My leg…"

Rika opened her eyes and sighed with relief. "I didn't kill you…" She dropped the gun in front of her and helped Ryo up.

"Or Envymon… Rika, Envymon is going to regain consciousness. I don't think he'll release me from his bind. You have to kill me, Rika."

"Ryo, I'm not doing that. I don't want to lose you, too…"

"Rika, if you really cared, you would shoot me. It's the only way to get rid of Envymon. Hurry, you don't have time."

"No, Ryo."

"Truth or dare, Rika?" Ryo asked in a hurry.

"What does that have to do anything!" Rika asked.

"It was my turn! Just truth or dare!"

"It has nothing to do with this!"

"Yes, it does! Truth or dare!"

"Dare…" Rika said absent-mindedly, before she realized what the dare would be. "No, no. I meant—"

"I dare you to shoot me!"

* * *

M/D DF103: So SICK! So PSYCHOTIC! INNUENDOS EVERYWHERE! Ahem...anyway. con2020tran, thanks for letting me know of the mistake in the last chapter. And I agree, this is getting not-so-horrific. Amethyst Blizzard, I surely hope this chapter was longer. And, Tomoyo Shioda, don't be hatin' Ryo, yo… j/k. Anyway, one more chapter! How will it end? And now, here's a short Public Service Announcement, by Immature DF103.

Immature DF103: Guns are bad. Cursing is bad. Mutilating people is bad. Reviewing is good.

M/D DF103: There you have it. Till the next and final chapter, Peace and a HAPPY NEW YEAR, in an evil kind of way.


	10. Is It The End?

Never Take A Dare Because Life's Too Short

Chapter 10: Is This The End?

Morbid DF103: ...Insert rant from profile here... The LAST chapter! DF's local bud is posting this for me. So, this chapter will be read by a group of Happy, Excited Emos who will eventually become Sad/Depressed Emos and will then sit in a corner and cry... And then, a group of Angry Emos will emerge to kill, not me, but DF103... And then, ALL of the fics will be terminated at their current chapters and that'll break DF103's creed, "finish what you start". Now who says I can't predict the future?

Immature DF103: O.O;; :backs away slowly: All hope is lost!

Morbid/DF103: ...Anyway. The last chapter...typed up for the second time... Here is the grand, anticlimactic ending of Never Take A Dare Because Life's Too Short.

* * *

Rika, who sat staring at the outline of Ryo's face, couldn't understand what Ryo demanded of her. At that moment, she had lost all thought and wondered, _What am I doing here_? She was at the brink of losing it all, both mentally and physically, and she didn't know if she could take it. Everything welled up inside of her and it was to the point where everything would just overflow, burst out, all emotions rising from within her. Then, she believed...that the whole incident that had past was nothing but a nightmare. Nothing more could've been possible. Rika looked at the gun in front of her. _It couldn't have been a nightmare; it had to be reality_. She picked up the gun and saw that it was real. She pondered and found herself gazing back at Ryo again, the only person who was still alive of the teenaged tamers from Envymon's massacre. 

Ryo squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath. He awaited for the one thing that would end it all. It was a risk he had to take, and in pain he hoped Rika the best.

Through insanity's deceptive shroud, one thing remained true to Rika, both in her mind and her heart... She had to save the one person she was able to help. She had to preserve what sanity she had left in her. She had to save her friend. She had to save Ryo.

"I won't do the dare," Rika replied.

Ryo's eyes fluttered open and silently sighed of relief, knowing he still had a little longer to live. "Why? It's the only way"

"I don't care, Ryo. There is going to be another way to fix this. No one else will die. You're not going to die."

"I want you to do this not for the sake of me, or for the sake of you. Envymon is eventually going to regain consciousness, kill you, and then kill probably the rest of the people in this area. Who knows what'll happen after that?"

"Since when did you have the right to tell me what to do?" Rika huffed, sliding the gun away from the both of them. "For once, would you try to think about something other than saving people. Think about yourself, and I don't mean your ego, but your well-being, and the people that care about you...especially the people that care about you. I know it sounds selfish, but you're going to put those people through hell if you sacrifice yourself. I would never forgive myself if I knew that I killed the one person I could've helped."

"Rika..."

"I felt helpless when I saw their bodies like that." Rika pointed to the four corpses near the back of the library. "I don't know about you, but that's how I felt. In some way, I still do. Our friends are dead. Does that even faze you at all?"

Ryo stared blankly back. "It does faze me because these hands," Ryo brought his hands up and looked at them, "...these hands were the cause of their demise. They would still be here if it weren't for these hands. I know exactly how you feel..."

"How would you know how _I _feel? If you knew how _I _felt, you wouldn't ask me to do something as stupid as shoot you."

"It's not a stupid idea. It's the only solution to get rid of Envymon." Ryo shook his head in frustration. "Give me the gun. I'll do it myself." As much as he didn't want to do it, he knew it was for the good of everyone.

Rika gawked at Ryo. "Dammit, Ryo! Is your head too far up your ass or something. I'm not giving you the gun nor am I going to shoot you! End of story."

"If you don't do one of the two, I'm going to end up killing you, too." Ryo slowly got himself up, wincing at the pain of his right foot.

"Jeez, dad!" Rika sarcastically yelled, a forlorn chuckle escaping her throat. Her tone simmered down. "Envymon hasn't come back yet. Maybe, he's gone and everything is back to the way it was...without any of the other tamers, at least. But, 'no' is the answer, Ryo, and it's not going to change."

"But"

"If you're so worried about hurting me or worse, then I'll leave. I've gotten this far without him hurting me, so I'll be fine." Rika picked up the gun and turned around to Ryo. "If you don't have any of this stuff lying around, you can't do much, so I'll go dump it somewhere for you." Ryo stood silently, speechless. "We won't see each other again. _That's _thereasonable solution."

"I know you don't like me that much, but you don't have to go this far."

Toward the door Rika headed, stopping next to Ryo, laying a hand on his shoulder. "If you think that, you don't know anything about me." She left Ryo a scent trail of her hair as she continued forward, a thin sheet of water glazing over her eyes.

Ryo obeyed. He didn't look back. He finally understood that it was for the best. Her scent lingered around his nose and it locked him away in his feelings for her.

The door...the separation between nightmare and reality stood before her. Rika wanted to turn around, turn around to see Ryo for one last time, but she couldn't. She knew that if she did, it would be a point of no return. She wouldn't have been able to escape from the decision she had made. A point had to be made and that point had to stand strong. She grasped the gun as she looked out through the door. "Goodbye, Ryo..."

Suddenly, a strong swooping gust rushed out the doorway, slamming the door behind it. All of the candles throughout the house flickered out. Rika whipped around and saw a dark, limp figure in the distance, standing near the entrance of the house's book room. The figure's eyes gleamed a deathly, demonic red, strangely in no light, seemingly the uncanny force that caused Rika's knees to tremble in place. A low grumble in another cold gust brushed Rika's cheek; Rika shielded herself covering her eyes from the painful wind. "Are you leaving me again, dear Rika?" it bellowed.

The wind desisted and slowly Rika brought her arms down, only to see the figure gone. Rika spun around and turned the stubborn knob that refused to turn. Ryo's head emerged from the door, his eyes rolled back, and from his mouth emerged a red digimon resembling much like Smeagle. "Neither anyone will come in nor go out."

Rika gasped and backed up, as far as she could, and eventually into a corner. _Great, how am I supposed to get out of this one_? she thought as Envymon's face neared hers. Her hands went numb and she struggled to grasp onto something, anything she could feel safe with. She squeezed her hands and a loud 'POW!' ricocheted throughout the house.

Envymon regressed at the sound as Rika held the gun up, aiming it right in between Envymon's scarlet eyes. "I'll shoot you."

A low menacing chuckle rang from Envymon. "The dear friend you would never want to hurt will die if you do, but no matter; good luck aiming at only me...that is, if you even have the guts to kill me, Erika."

Yeah, in your dreams pal. Rika lowered the gun, pointing the gun upward at an angle, enough to hopefully just hit Envymon and not Ryo. "I'd leave Ryo's body right about now...if you even have the will to live." _Wait...gun shots don't effect digimon._

Rika lowered the gun, pointing the gun upward at an angle, enough to hopefully just hit Envymon and not Ryo. "I'd leave Ryo's body right about now...if you even have the will to live." 

Another droning snicker escaped Envymon. "Hesitating, are we? But, you were never afraid of anything, especially me. However, you chose them over me so you shall meet your demise as well." Envymon slowly stuck one arm out and then the other, slowly emerging out of Ryo's mouth. He grabbed Rika by the cheeks, lasciviously licked her lips, and pulled away, smirking. Rika was motionless, speechless...disgusted. "It's been a while since I've done that now, hasn't it?" Envymon's smirk grew. "Let me be forever with you."

"You have the wrong person!" Rika yelled, clenching her eyes shut. With one swift moment, Envymon lunged toward Rika. With a flick of her wrist, 'Bang.' Rika heard a body fall limp to the floor. The question was, whose body was it? She prayed it wasn't Ryo's body, but she didn't want to open her eyes. From a distance, she heard voices; they weren't Ryo's. "Please be alive..."

Opening one eye, and then the other, Rika found Envymon lying on the floor, hanging out of Ryo's mouth. Ryo's body was under Envymon's; neither of them moved. The gun slipped out of Rika's hand while Rika stared at the two bodies. _He's not bleeding,_ Rika thought. She was paralyzed, as she stared at the indistinct hole in between Envymon's eyes.

The once distant voices were heard outside of the house; beams of light streamed into the room through cracks in the boarded window. Rika glanced at the door before looking back at the bodies again. "Come on. Get up, Ryo..." She wanted to see his ocean blue eyes open again; she wanted to hear his voice again; she wanted Ryo to have his life back again. However, in the shaft of light from outside the house, Rika saw something run from under Ryo's head...and she knew.

"Rika! Are you okay?" the voices called out from outside the door.

No, Rika answered mentally, as she picked up the gun.

"The door won't budge."

"I'm sorry." She clenched her eyes again and...

'BANG!'

- - -

'Beep...'

'Beep...'

'Beep...'

"Rika!" I yelled, gasping for air, cold sweat running down the side of my face, as I jolted up. It took a moment for my eyes to realize...that we weren't in the old house anymore. I was in a bed. I was in a gown. I was in a hospital. My mind was confused at what it was looking at, considering it wasn't the place I was at moments ago. _I'm alive? _I viewed the IV and heart monitor on a stand next to me. _Why am I here? _Wiping the sheet of cold sweat off of my cheeks, my eyes scoped the room for a clock. My eyes met with the Gabumon clock that was on the floor; _it's identical to the one I gave to Takato... _I shook my head. _It had to be a dream,_ I told myself. I went to touch my head when I noticed my head was wrapped in some gauze... That thin strip of fabric fell over my eyes. _Where did this come from?_ _Could it have_

Feeling the surface of the covers, I noticed I couldn't feel my leg. I dug through the sheets and found a hard cast wrapped around my right leg. _Oh no, no, no. This isn't right. That couldn't have happened. It was all a dream! But wait. _Stumbling out of bed, I pulled the curtains open and saw the darkness, illuminated by the city's radical lights. The IV monitor followed. _This makes no sense._ I turned my head slowly toward the door and then to the bed, where my eyes shot directly at the flickering overhead light. At this point in time, I was utterly perplexed, and moreover, freaked out. If this wasn't a dream, then everything actually happened. And if that's the case... "I'm the only survivor..."

I stared down at my leg; the answer rested in what was beneath the thick layer of bandages. My hands neared the cast...ever closer and with a blink of an eye, I was gaping at a bloody hole near the lower half of my shin. _A hole!_

My heart skipped too many beats and I couldn't close my mouth. A "Why?" hissed through my lips. _So where were the bodies put? Who found mewait. _Scenes, acting like flashbacks reminded me of those approaching voices; very distant they were...and now I was here. _Why didn't they get there before Kenta was killed? Why didn't they catch Envymon in the act...?_ _These hands had killed them, and the one person I didn't touch... _I shook my head to no end. _Why didn't they get the door open before Rika shot herself?_ I couldn't take it anymore; it was far too much to take.

I clutched my eyes shut, my hands assisting, refraining the tears from falling. Regardless of my efforts, I fell over on my back, letting the tears stream down the sides of my face; the hands that killed them rested shamefully on my face and the tears that shed for those I killed were slowly falling to the floor.

Wait... I killed?

It was all Envymon's doing. I got back up, brushing off what I tore off of the cast, and looked out the window once more. "You're out there somewhere and I know it. You're laughing. Do you see this?" I asked, wiping my eyes and casting my hand toward the window. "This is my sign to you just how much you bastardized my life, Envymon. You hear that? You fed up my life! It's nothing anymore! Are you happy now?" I broke down.

My forehead pressed against the window, my two fists slowly sliding down its surface. _Hand me the gun then and I would've blown my brains out, just to kill him, just to get rid of him forever. Hand me the gun now, and there'd be no point. The damage is done._

Behind me, a couple of nurses ran in, their mouths moving, but their voices distant. A moment occurred when time even slowed down and a wave of reality hit me like a tsunami. _Henry was gone. Takato was gone. Kazu was gone. Kenta was gone. Even Jeri was gone. And Rika...she was gone, too._ With each memory, my connection with reality was hacked away and eventually, the nurses' distant voices were muted. They were talking to me, but their volume finally landed the zero mark; I turned to them and their mouths continued to move and I continued to hear nothing. All I heard was the one sound that assured I was still alive.

'Beep, beep, beep...' pulsated the heart monitor at an increasing rate.

I pulled the tubes out of my body; it all bugged me, a growing rage boiling.

'Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...' it went.

"Is this what you wanted?" I pounded my fist into the wall. "Want me to go insane?" _Am I dead yet?_

My incessant bouts of abuse to the wall was halted by a firm grip around my arm. Another nurse grabbed my other hand. Five of them surrounded me now, all trying to hold me down, all in the their white suits, and just when I thought I had enough, a sixth nurse appeared from behind them with a syringe in hand. The door opened again and I saw my dad walk in. A good fight I put up, although they brought me to the bed and restrained me. My dad held my arm as the one nurse injected something into me, hopefully something lethal. I deserved it.

And then...

...It was as if my nerves had loosened again and almost everything went numb. The nurses' voices quietly whispered to my dad in the background as the long-lasting beep returned to its previous steady pulses. My eyes grew heavy and my thoughts - whatever I was thinking of before - were drowned in the thoughts of her. _Rika. _And when I thought the time had come for me, I didn't see the great light...

But, I saw her.

- - -

I awoke with the sun, creeping through the closed curtains. It was quiet. _I guess it wasn't lethal. _I rubbed my eyes and sat up from the bed. My head was tightly wound by gauze and my right leg was still numb; it even had a new cast on it. The bed creaked; I slouched over my legs and ran my hands through my hair, sighing. _Causing people misery and pain... Is this what kept Envymon sane?_ I looked up and found my dad sleeping in the chair at the foot of the bed. I slowly got out of the bed, the bed creaking a little more, and placed a blanket over him. I limped, the cast slowing me down as I slightly opened the curtains. A sigh left my mouth. In continuance from the night before, I tried to fit the pieces of everything that happened together.

A hole in my leg... A cast on it now... I looked around the room. _Same hospital room as Takato's. Coincidence or not? Head wound...from falling to the floor at the house? _My fingers traced the gauze wrap around my head. I breathed inwardly and it was almost as if I could smell Rika's hair again. _It must be my subconscious, lingering in the memories of her._

I looked around the room. My fingers traced the gauze wrap around my head. I breathed inwardly and it was almost as if I could smell Rika's hair again. 

"It's a nice day, isn't it?" I turned around and saw my dad folding the blanket I had spread over him. "It's the first sunny day we've had since you were in here."

First sunny day? But, it was always sunny.

"Well, aren't you going to say anything? All you did last night was blabber about nonsense. You talked yourself out?" His brows furrowed, my dad stared at me with his shoulders firm. Even with his facade, his quivering bottom lip gave away just how much he was holding in.

Facing the window again, I asked, "How long have I been in here?"

"A week. Seven days. One hundred and sixty-eight hours. However you want to look at it. You gave us all a scare by going into that damned house."

"Where's everyone? Are they okay? Are they alive? Please tell me that they're alive?" I spat out.

"What do you mean, 'where is everyone?'"

"I mean, where is Takato? Jeri? Henry? Kazu? Kenta? Rika? Where are they? I need to know, dad! Tell me that they are okay!" I shouted.

"Ryo, you're in a weak state right now. Calm down and cut it out with that rot. What's gotten into you"

"Dad..." I grabbed his shoulders. "Where...are...they?" The monitor beeped at a racing pace.

"Sit down, Ryo!"

"No, I won't!" And, everything seemed to black out again.

- - -

I woke up in the bed again and saw someone fiddling with something colorful on the IV stand. My eyes blinked a couple of times before their vision cleared. It was Takato... _Takato? _"Takato! Am I glad to see you" He fell off the chair he was standing on and fell on the tubes. "Takato, get away from there! You can get hurt!" An immediate flashback went to Takato being cast out the window, hanging on IV tubes. I returned to reality, watching Takato get up and dust himself off.

"A little paranoid, are we?" Rika said, smirking on the other side of me.

"Rika!"

I looked around the room and also saw Henry and Jeri at the foot of my bed, and Kazu and Kenta staring intently at the television screen playing a game.

"You guys aren't dead!"

The action in the room came to a halt. My dad came from the bathroom. He looked at me and then to my friends, saying, "He's been like this all morning. Want to try getting through to him while I go get some food?" They all nodded and he left. _What are they talking about?_

"Well...we brought you something..." Henry said, pointing to the object Takato was putting up.

"Ah! Butterflies!" I yelped.

"Your dad was right. You _are_ acting strange. Those are origami cranes, Ryo," Jeri clarified.

"Yeah, you know, where we make a thousand paper cranes wishing you to get better?" Kazu added, fiddling with the controller.

"Oh...sorry." I looked down at my cast.

Rika put a hand on my shoulder. "You've finally lost it, Akiyama."

I made a dry grin. "So...what happened?"

"Why don't...you...tell us first, Ryo? Your story...seems more...interesting," Kazu replied, while concentrating on his game play. "Kenta, you're beating me!"

"Is that the new Digimon game?" I asked.

"Yep..." came out of the two players as they pressed several buttons on the controllers.

All of us seemed to turn our attention to the two of them duke it out on the game. Kenta eventually won and Kazu was furious. "You beat me!" Kazu smacked Kenta's glasses off.

"Hey! Kazu, you know I'm blind without my glasses." Kenta crawled along the floor to search for his glasses. My mind went back to the time Kenta first lost his glasses and ended without having any eyes at all. A part of me went back to that night. And the more I thought about this, the more I believed that it was real, but how

"...Ryo... Ryo...?" Henry waved his hand in front of me.

"Sorry..."

Kenta had found his glasses and had had them already placed rightfully on his face.

"You look a little pale..." Henry commented.

"Do you know what he needs? He needs the sunshine to brighten his day." Jeri walked over to the window and opened the curtains.

"Get away from the window!" I yelled, jumping out of bed and stumbling over Kazu, causing him to fall out of his chair. Jeri whipped around and Kazu moaned. My mind's reaction to Kazu was a flashback to when he was tied to a chair.

"Jeez, Ryo. You're on a roll. So, why don't you just spill what's on your mind now?" Kazu said.

I'm going insane... Envymon turned me into a crazy jackass. "It's all Envymon's fault..."

"What?" the group said at once, or rather everyone except Rika and Jeri. They didn't look amused.

"There's no such digimon called Envymon..." Kazu said, in a nonchalant tone.

"And, I can't get these events out of my mind. It's like it never happened, but at the same time, it's like it all happened. Do you get it?" By the way everyone gawked at me, I believed that it was actually a dream, and a strange one at that. "Something in the house spooked me and this thing fell on me. And, I was acting all weird when you guys came to pick me up the next morning. I freaked Rika out and I was angry at Henry. And it turned out that I was taken over by a digimon called Envymon"

At that moment, my dad came into the room with a tray of food. "Sorry I was late. They had to bring in someone who got run over by a car into the ER. There were so many people in all of the hallways."

"That's really weird... Henry almost got hit by a car on the way here, didn't you?" Takato noted. My eyes widened.

"See! See!" I pointed at everyone. "This is what's freaking me out. In this dream or whatever I had, I beat up Henry and tied him to a car, watching him being dragged on the road. I threw Takato out of this room's window and he dangled from the IV tubes. Jeri ended up committing suicide because of Takato's death. I tied Kazu to a chair and asphyxiated him. I gouged out Kenta's eyes out. And I almost killed Rika...before she shot herself. And then everyone turned into butterflies. Envymon said it had something to do with the soul leaving the body. Everything that just happened within the last fifteen minutes, connects to my supposed dream. It was all Envymon's doing! I swear! He wanted Rika because she looked like his old tamer and he wanted to put an end to all those who teased that girl. He killed because he wanted Rika all to himself. He thought she was...she was...Erika Kurosawa! That's the name"

My dad harshly set the tray on the table. "Stop it. Just stop it! Your friends helped you out of the rubble you were in. Part of the house collapsed on you that day and you injured your head and leg. You were brought to the hospital immediately. This massacre you're talking about never happened! Just stop making up this crazy story about killing all of your friends who you should be grateful for. Everyone's alive. Everything's fine now."

"But...what about that Gabumon clock? I gave that to Takato when he was in the hospital and it blew smoke. And the game? Kenta was going over to Kazu's house to play it only to find Kazu dead. What kind of coincidental event is that!" My friends backed away and stared back at me. _Haven't they ever seen me freak out before?_

My dad raised his hand to slap me before Jeri said, "Wait."

"You believe me?" I asked frantically.

"No, you scare me, Ryo... You talking about killing people the way you thought you did isn't normal. ...But, about that clock; Takato gave you that clock."

"Okay, then explain the cast on my leg. Rika shot me there trying to shoot me to get Envymon. This leg was killing me from the start. If this dream thing was supposed to be a dream, then why did it hurt so much?" I demanded. "And what about the wrap on my head. Rika shot at Envymon and it hit me, too. She thought that shot killed me so she shot herself. Explain all of this because it needs to make sense!"

Rika pulled a chair up next to the bed and sat in it. She crossed her arms and sat back. "Ryo, I want you to tell me right now, do I look like the weak-minded type to shoot myself for you?" I gazed into her eyes and shook my head. Rika smiled. "Good. Now that I've heard enough of that story, here's the truth. Half of the house collapsed during the night you stayed in that house. We found you under the rubble, just like your dad told you, and got you to the hospital. Can you get that through your thick skull?" She playfully jabbed me in the shoulder.

"Yeah, the doctors had to operate on your leg because from what they told us, you didn't have a reflex in that leg," Takato explained, pointing to the cast. "They said there was a chance of a permanent limp, but that was 'to be determined when you got the cast off.' You're lucky nothing happened to your head."

My dad shook his head. "Are you sure about that?"

I drooped my head. "So none of the D-Arcs went off either?"

"I think that would've been one of the first things we would've told you if that happened," Kazu replied, putting the game controller down.

An awkward silence struck the room and we all looked at each other.

"You know...everything seems to be relative, though," Henry said rubbing his chin. "If we can take Ryo's word for it, everything that did happen can somehow relate to what Ryo described. The Gabumon clock. The pain in his leg. Kenta's game. The involvement of a possible car accident in my life. And especially that house. Our presence here affected him in his head."

A thought struck me. "What about the camera? I videotaped everything. He's in there."

"Ryo, would you cut it out? This isn't like you," Kenta whined.

"I have the camera with me, but I didn't have time to look through it yet. My dad went berserk when he found out that we were even near that house."

My head shot up. "Your dad got angry when he heard about the house in my dream thing, too."

"And, the connections keep on coming..." Henry noted. "Maybe you created your own alternate universe"

"And you actually believe this? It all seems so childish to me," Jeri commented.

"Honestly, man. You probably miss having all of that action with the digimon," Kazu said, wrapping up the cords.

"Actually that makes more sense. It could be all in your mind. Now, the part about this possessive Envymon killing all of us is a different story. And whether this girl really existed or not is still in question." Henry sat down and picked up his camcorder and went through it.

"Or maybe you were supposed to realize how close you and Rika really are," Kazu laughed before being jabbed by Rika.

I sighed. I grew tired of my own assumptions and maybe everyone was right. I looked at Rika and it wasn't as if Kazu was trying to poke fun at her, because I thought it might've been true. Envymon could've been another part of me, a darker side that wanted Rika all to himself. Maybe I felt the need to keep everyone away from her so I'd never lose her. _She means the world to me_. _It's probably why I woke up when she supposedly shot herself. __The subconscious is such a mysterious thing._

"Thanks, you guys." _Thanks for saving me, allowing me to live another day. Thanks for chasing this nightmare away._

"Well, it's about time you got yourself back, son. With the way you were acting, you could've been your own possessed being." It was great to see my dad happy again. "Now Ryo's got to eat. Maybe you can come back later."

"No problem. Get better, Ryo," The group replied. Kenta unplugged the final cord from the TV, before the news blared.

A large pile of steamy, smoking ashes appeared on the television screen. Ashes snowed from the sky; we all stared intently at the sight. The area looked similar to the house I was saved from. A voice-over called out, "...Fire officials don't know what the cause of this fire is, as of yet, but they seemed to have found a body among the ashes. They are led to believe that this girl is the missing Erika Kurosawa from a case five years ago. Within the flying debris, this photo was found of the supposed girl..."

We all gasped at the photo, gaping at an almost exact likeness of Rika on the screen.

"...with investigation official, Mori Taka. If this in fact is the missing girl's home, why do you think this girl was found in her own home when her parents had lived there and claimed she was missing without a clue of her being there?" the anchor asked.

"There are signs of suicide and because she was found near the top of the rubble, possibly she was in the attic where no one had searched. Of course, this is just based on what we have now. The Kurosawa's are on their way to identify her," Taka stated.

I felt a gagging sensation in my gut and judging by the looks on everyone's faces, they probably felt it, too.

"Again, if you are just joining us, we are LIVE at the scene where only moments ago, this half-torn house was ablaze. This is a possible tragic end to the case of the missing girl Erika Kurosawa." my dad turned the TV off.

A pin could echo in the room; it was that quiet. Henry continued watching the tape in the video camera, with ear pieces in his ears. I heard myself screaming on the tape; that was the point where the creature appeared behind me. Not once did I have a thought about why I took the dare in the first place that evening. In my 'alternate universe', a dare could've cost me my life. In this reality, that single dare that started this all could've killed me. I was lucky to leave with even a limp. And I thought I was lucky that my alternate reality was actually a fake, that I didn't have to worry about some bastard screwing with my life. But, that was when Henry yelled, "Holy shit! He's there."

The group gathered around him, before the windows flew open with a huge gust. A black butterfly fluttered in slowly as the gust hit all of our faces.

The wind bellowed, "You're... mine..."

Then, the wind stopped and the black insect dissipated.

"Now that's just plain creepy..." Kazu commented, his visor on the floor from the wind.

Rika looked at me with fear in her eyes.

We all had fear in our eyes.

Realization after realization, I knew Envymon wasn't gone.

It didn't just end. It had only begun.

Envymon wasn't amused by pain.

He was exhilarated by fear.

I was afraid of losing Rika.

Would he be back for her?

Most likely.

Would he _dare_ to succeed?

Not a chance.

* * *

DF103: That was stupid and not...freaky. It reminded me of The Grudge and The Ring. 

Morbid DF103: Shut up and go rewrite all of the stuff you finished before.

DF103: Fine... Sorry for not updating ANYTHING because of ...Insert rant from profile here again... To those I send letters to, letters will be sent soon. Ah! And it's 12 in the morning on a school night...day...night...whatever. To the Credits!

Morbid DF103: Hey! That's my line!

Credits (Song in Background: "There's No Solution" by Sum 41)

Disclaimer: We, the crew in DigiFreak103's brain, do NOT own the show Digimon.

Thanks to DF103's jerk-of-a-sister for crashing both computers within one month so that this rewrite was possible. (Please note the sarcasm). And, great thanks to the local bud who's posting this for me.

And this fic wouldn't be possible if it weren't for readers and reviewers like you: Amethyst Blizzard, lxlriotgirlx, A Ryo fan, Miranda, digi harpy, akarane, oceam, Connie Tran, Tomoyo Shioda, Akino Matoumiken, fuck-you-13, kermtix, Luzr-Gurl13, Shadow-Faerie-21, violet eyes rika, DigiqueenTMIM, xMysticSecretx, Amber, MEE, KristiexxNguyen, O.o, alexian-goddess, anonymous, sokie, rikagirls, KatieWeasley, windari, Dark Iced Princess, Shadowpoet, Pisces Panda, Kaiba Lover, Dark X, eMpErAtRiS, sapphire, Tache, NC60659, Fuzzy Wuzzy Whitnery, junny, xXDarkShadowXx, and of course those who may chance upon the review button after this chapter. You non-reviewers, earn just as much thanks as the reviewers, cuz you're just as important. Grazi. Danke. Arigatou. Gracias. She she ni. Mahalo. Merci. Thank you.

This is Morbid DF103, and DigiFreak103 crew, signing off from Never Take A Dare Because Life's Too Short. L8terZ, in an evil kind of way...


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